With regard to the Government target, as the Deputy will be aware, I have consistently said our target is getting the vaccines out as quickly as they arrive. The latest data I have show over 96% of vaccines are being administered within seven days of arriving in the country. I would reframe the Deputy's question to ask whether sufficient supply is going to have arrived here by the end of June to have reached 80% with dose one. It is unclear if that is the case. I was on the phone to the task force this morning in o…

Absolutely, I will give the Deputy the latest figures I got this morning. On the target, Deputy Cullinane, the others in this Chamber and I have had this conversation week after week for months and months. Members of the Oireachtas have quite rightly said they want the forecasts and we have tried to provide them but as the Deputy will be aware, we have always done so with the heavy caveat that the Government target is to get them out the door and that provided they arrived, this then would be the number of people w…

I thank the Deputy for raising this with me. On the situation whereby the medical cards cannot be updated right now, I am discussing it with the Department and we will discuss it with the HSE. My position is that essentially, anyone who has a medical card that needs to be renewed should not have services cut off. We need to roll that access through until they have them renewed. We cannot have people being denied access because of the cyberattack and we will be continuing these conversations. I thank the Deputy for …

-----is that anyone who is approached by someone who looks to have data they should not is not to engage but immediately to contact the Garda at the local station in the first instance and then through the confidential line on 1800 666 111.

I thank the Deputy for his questions. I am aware that there was some frustration in Meath and, quite frankly, it was taking longer to access the vaccine in Meath than it was in other parts of the country, which we do not want. The Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, and I, along with others from the area, have had detailed discussions on the matter. I raised the issue with the representatives of the HSE and encouraged them to secure additional resources to ensure that the people in the area were vaccinated as q…

-----and I hope at this point it is being resolved.

I acknowledge that the Deputy raised the issue of Louth with me previously. We have looked into it. As he will be aware, the Drogheda centre opened late last week and is operating as an additional centre as required. That will help with many of the issues the Deputy has raised. The latest information I got when I looked into this matter for the Deputy was that, as of Tuesday, 25 May, vaccination was broadly complete for the 50- to 69-year-old group. That was their first dose. As per my response to the previous cont…

The UK has reduced the interval between AstraZeneca vaccines from 12 weeks to eight for people aged 50 and above. I discussed the matter with public health officials last night and it was pointed out that, logistically, pretty much all of our AstraZeneca volume is already committed to second doses. For some cohorts, the interval between jabs had gone from 12 to 16 weeks. NIAC put that in place to be able to gather further information and, having had that extra time, the interval has gone back to 12 weeks. With all …

I thank the Deputy. I agree with him about rapid testing in third level institutions and we are looking at that option. With regard to surplus vaccine, keeping a reserve for next year and booster shots, we will potentially do that. At the same time, we will make sure we contribute as much as we can globally. It is important that we do that. I will look into the final issue the Deputy raised.

I thank the Deputy for his questions. In respect of Cork University Hospital, I will take the issue up with the HSE this week. A lot of effort has been put into making the vaccines available to pregnant women according to the stipulations of NIAC. Certainly, no one would wish to see a six to eight-week delay before women receive the first dose of the vaccine. I fully appreciate the Deputy's comments regarding concern and I will pick that up this week. As for direct provision, those in direct provision are included …

It is difficult for me to comment on individual cases. If the Deputy provides me with details of the case, I will make sure it is looked into.

On the Deputy's question in respect of vaccinations for those aged 40 to 44, it is still being looked at. We hope to have an exact date for the commencement of vaccinations in the coming days. One of the challenges in sequencing the programme and providing these exact dates is the considerable uncertainty that has arisen with regard to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine deliveries for the month of June, as well as for May.

I thank the Deputy for her questions. I thank her for raising the issue of access to vaccinations for those in Connemara. Deputy Ó Cuív has also informed me that there has been some concern in the area that the drive to the vaccination centre is simply too long. I have raised the issue with the HSE. There are a few areas in Mayo, Connemara and in parts of Donegal, where people are located outside of the desired length of travel to the vaccination centre. It is absolutely the case that Connemara is one of the areas …

I will revert in writing with the remainder.

As the Deputy is aware, the supply forecast moves around. If everything arrives as we want it to for June, we will receive approximately 2.44 million doses. That would be 365,000 AstraZeneca, 1.42 million Pfizer, approximately 176,000 Moderna and approximately 476,000 or 477,000 Janssen vaccine doses. I gave Deputy Cullinane the figures earlier in terms of best-case and worst-case scenarios for Janssen. Essentially, as of this morning, Janssen believes best-case is approximately half and worst-case is very low. It …

It is an ongoing concern. The concern is as per the AstraZeneca deliveries for this month and previous months.

The figures cited by the Deputy in terms of first and second doses are from the Public Health England study. An important additional point to make is that while those figures are around individual protection, a much wider protection is afforded at a population level, and therefore, the chance and the risks fall. It is, therefore, very important from that perspective. There has been no suggestion that we would switch out the second AstraZeneca dose for one of the mRNA vaccines, for instance. At this point, all the v…

I have posed the same question frequently myself. The answer is that between the GPs and the vaccination centres, there is more than enough capacity-----

-----for the volume we already have.

There is, in terms of the capacity.