The task force is chaired by Professor Brian MacCraith and the full membership is available online.

With regard to transparency of supply, we are largely in agreement. The Deputy suggested I provide information in relation to three areas, namely, forecast, delivery and administration. In regard to the administration, we can all accept there is daily information released in that regard. It is available on the tracker App and online. There is full transparency in terms of what is administered. In regard to delivery, I listened carefully to Deputy Kelly and others last week and I have instructed the Department to pu…

How much time do I have?

I thank Deputy Eoghan Murphy for his questions. As he will be aware, the European Medicines Agency is looking at Sputnik V and is conducting a rolling review. What is normal practice then is that the advance purchase agreements, APAs, can be put in place. For example, we have seven APAs in place, three for authorised vaccines, one for a vaccine we hope will be authorised today and three for vaccines that have not yet been authorised. The same process can be put in place for Sputnik V. I would draw the Deputy's atte…

I thank the Deputy for his acknowledgment of the huge work that is being done, not by any of us here but by the Irish people in sticking with a very hard regimen of measures. It is working. Even with this awful B.1.1.7 variant and its significant contagion, we are still, week by week, steadily reducing the number of cases. I believe we are now about the fourth lowest in Europe. We just need to keep going. The Deputy's point on the interval between doses is an excellent question and one that NIAC has been looking at…

I thank the Deputy. I believe the number of trained vaccinators is at approximately 9,700 right now. The question is which comes first. Do we train up our vaccinators and then ask for as much vaccine as can be produced? That would be a fantastic position to be in and we would train a lot more vaccinators in that scenario. However, what comes first is the supply of vaccine. As we are all aware, the limiting factor is the supply. Based on the forecast we have for what the pharmaceutical companies have agreed to deliv…

My thanks to Deputy Shortall. There are more questions there than I will be able to answer in 50 seconds, so let me try to move quickly. The Deputy should have received an answer on Moderna. I have intervened previously to ensure she got answers and I will chase that up. That should not happen. If I give a commitment to any Deputy that he or she will get an answer from me, that should happen. Deputy Shortall's critique on data is unfair, to be honest. There are daily figures up on the app. Only last week, the Deput…

I acknowledge the Deputy's ongoing advocacy on this issue. I share his desired end goal, that being, a global and just vaccination programme. It cannot be a vaccine for the West or wealthier countries. As the Deputy rightly stated, it has to be a vaccine for all of humanity. The only question is how to do that. As variants emerge or new diseases arrive and vaccines must be adjusted or created anew, how do we achieve a model that responds not just to the current strains of the coronavirus, but to future strains and …

The figure of 99% is arrived at as follows. The estimate is that there are in excess of 72,000 people over the age of 85 years. They were being vaccinated in several different ways. One was through nursing homes and other long-term residential care facilities, an area that has largely been covered. The second way was through the roll-out in the community. A small number of those aged 85 or older had not been vaccinated as of last Sunday, which was the end of the three-week period. The information the Minister of St…

I thank the Deputy for his questions. With regard to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, for which authorisation is being sought today, I can confirm that we have advance purchased 2.19 million doses. Its great advantage is that it is a single-dose vaccine and so that amount on its own would vaccinate almost half the population. There is very strong procurement in place. However, the Deputy asked the second relevant question, that is, when the vaccine will be delivered. On the basis of how unreliable one of the pharmace…

I will try to respond to the questions in 30 seconds. The fourth cohort will be done both in hospitals and GP clinics. If certain people cannot make either of those trips and are essentially housebound, arrangements will be made accordingly. The report in respect of rapid testing is currently being finalised. NIAC prioritisation is ongoing. It is considering all of the groups that have been referenced here today, as well as many others. The use of community halls can be considered. It was deemed not to be the way t…

I thank the Deputy for the questions. The Deputy's question about projected supply and whether we can publish the amount expected to come in, week by week, is reasonable. The problem is that the amount expected to come in, week by week, is being changed, largely by AstraZeneca, and sometimes several times a week. That is causing untold anxiety in the community. It is eclipsing the good news that we are rolling out astonishingly effective vaccines to the most vulnerable groups of people and healthcare workers and th…

It depends on what the Deputy means by the term "the issue". Certainly, Ireland has opted into its full pro rata amounts. We have opted in to the options on all of the top-ups and as a result of that we pre-ordered enough vaccine to vaccinate every man, woman and child in the country twice.

To be absolutely clear: Ireland is getting its pro rata amount. That is why we consistently have had one of the fastest roll-outs in the EU. I assure the Deputy that there is ongoing work with member states-----

-----and with the Commission on the points the Deputy raised.

I thank the Deputy. I will get her a detailed note on that. It is one of several measures the HSE has put in place in response.

I seek a clarification from the Acting Chairman. To date, there has not been a closing statement at these sessions. Should I respond to Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan's questions or what point are we at now?

Okay, I thank the Acting Chairman. I will begin by addressing Deputy O'Sullivan's question. I wholeheartedly agree with him about the Garda. From day one, members of the Garda have done an extraordinary job. They have put themselves in harm's way, both in terms of the virus and in some of the activities that we have seen, particularly the protest in Dublin and the disgraceful behaviour with direct attacks on gardaí. They have done an extraordinary job. They have been involved in a very hands-on and co-operative app…

No.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the vaccine roll-out with the House. By the end of this week, approximately 500,000 vaccine doses will have been administered. Our aim has been and remains to administer vaccines as they arrive into the country, while maintaining a small buffer to ensure people get their second dose as scheduled. This aim is being met. At the start of this week, we had received delivery of approximately 520,000 vaccine doses. By the end of this week, approximately 500,000 of these will have been…