I thank Deputy Cullinane for the question and for his remarks. The information I have is that a very small number of EU countries are looking at going outside the EU process. The Deputy referenced Hungary, for example. My understanding is that they have elected to use a vaccine that has not been authorised by the European Medicines Agency, EMA. I would hope one thing we would all agree on in the House is that, regardless of where the vaccines come from, we would stick to vaccines that are authorised by the EMA. It …

I certainly can commit to talking to the task force and the HSE about this. If I may, I will respectfully push back a little here. I take Deputy Cullinane's point. He is asking about supply coming in and we will look at that. In terms of the doses administered, in fairness to the people who are running the programme, the House asked for weekly numbers and then daily numbers. I committed to that and that was done. They go up online every day. I asked for them to be put onto the tracker app as well so that people cou…

I thank the Deputy for that. On his previous point, I am publishing right now for the Oireachtas the deliveries to date so that, by the end of or even during this session, the latest figures, I believe for the start of this week, will be available. I certainly would like to see that published weekly for the very reasons given by the Deputy. As to the GPs, there are approximately 1,300 GP practices involved and it was ramping up over a three-week period. The latest information I have as of this morning is that appro…

I thank the Deputy. The target for the first dose for the over-85s was for the vast majority of them to have been done by the end of this week. There are a small number of GP practices, for the reasons I have just given, which did not receive their deliveries this week, and they will get them next week. On the point, which the Deputy has raised before, about people who are housebound, the good news is GPs will be able to make, and are already making, house visits. The National Ambulance Service is being used as wel…

I thank the Deputy. Yes is the answer. We have a provisional schedule week by week for all of the vaccines. The problem, as we are all becoming painfully aware, is that while the schedules for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have broadly come on time - there were one or two changes to the Pfizer schedule which we got at late notice, but by and large they have been coming in on time - there has been huge uncertainty around AstraZeneca, and it has been frustrating on a number of different levels. First, its deliverie…

I will certainly commit to speaking to the Department, the task force and the HSE about it. We all want maximum transparency and I hope the Deputy would agree that on the supply side, a real effort has been made to make the data available. The challenge is that anything we publish will change. As we in here know, it has changed repeatedly. If we take this week as an example, a figure was given in good faith. The hope was to vaccinate 100,000 people this week. For one reason, and one reason only, it will be lower th…

On the issue of deliveries perhaps we can discuss it further. It would require co-operation. For example, in good faith I gave a detailed target for September and that then moved because of AstraZeneca. Within an hour I was being accused of making false promises. If we are going to use forecast information my ask back is that all of us in the House use it accordingly because it has not always been used in that way. On AstraZeneca, NPHET will meet today. I do not believe there will be a recommendation from NIAC toda…

I thank the Deputy. I certainly share his desire to get as much vaccine into the country as possible. As a starting point, we would use vaccines authorised by the EMA. I can confirm the EMA has now put Sputnik on its rolling review, which is a step on the way to the manufacturers of Sputnik applying for conditional marketing authorisation. I have asked the task force to take at look at what other legitimate avenues might be available. Certainly if there are EU countries that do not want to use all of their AstraZen…

I thank the Deputy. With regard to a second larger vaccination centre for Limerick city and-or county, it is something that is kept under constant review for the whole country. If there is a demand for another centre one can be sourced and set up quite quickly. Remember the vaccinations centres are simply one part of the infrastructure. As we move out to the general populace, and particularly through April as we scale up to perhaps 250,000 vaccines a week, we will involve GP practices, pharmacies and vaccination ce…

It is certainly something I can take up with the task force.

I thank the Deputy. With regard to transparency, we will always endeavour to do as much as possible. I hope the House appreciates that real efforts have been made. There are daily updates online, daily updates on the tracker app and the Oireachtas gets a daily update. In my ten years in the Dáil, I do not remember ever getting a daily update from Government on anything. While we all want more information and I accept that, I hope the House appreciates that real efforts have been made and continue to be made in term…

On cohort 4, the really good news, which I have just announced today, is that for cohort 4, which is people with underlying conditions who are deemed to be at very high risk of serious illness or fatality, that is going to start next week. The details are still being worked out and I ask the House to bear with us on that. The NIAC recommendation happened very recently and from the moment it was made the HSE has been working through its clinical programmes, through its consultant teams and through its GP networks to…

The Deputy's questions are absolutely appropriate to the people he represents. The short answer on the vaccination centres is that they were operational decisions of the HSE based on population analysis. If it is the case that a second, bigger vaccination centre is appropriate for Donegal, it will be set up. I will give a commitment to the Deputy that I will ask the HSE after this debate to take a second look at Donegal specifically and see if it is warranted. The point the Deputy made in his question, however, is …

I will get the Deputy a written response.

First and foremost, the pharmacists are being vaccinated because they are front-line healthcare workers. It is more complex when it comes to other people working in the pharmacy, but if they are deemed to be within the cohort of front-line healthcare workers based on a detailed set of protocols put together by the HSE, they would be included.

Can the Deputy give me those two figures again?

The deliveries to date have now been published. The Deputy will be able to get them on her telephone now or after the debate. I have asked the Department to provide regular updates. I believe daily updates could lead to a great deal of anxiety. One could see 80,000 arrive in on a single day and if one just took that day, and there are some people who will use the information to try to undermine the programme, it would look like there was a huge gap. Let me just think through that. I certainly agree that regular upd…

Let me take a look. The last time I checked the majority of the Moderna doses had gone out. We will look at that. On the April date, there is absolutely a lot of focus on this. We are going from 86,000 this week up to, hopefully if the supplies come in, 250,000 in four weeks' time.

The plan has been published. We have the 40 vaccination centres, which are the 37 centres and the three GP hubs, and the pharmacies and the GP practices. I will get a more detailed note for colleagues on exactly that. I will also revert to Deputy Shortall in writing on the rest.

How long have I got to answer?