Third dose vaccination campaign
Deputy Devlin welcomed the vaccination rollout and raised concerns about long queues for boosters. The Tánaiste said he would raise it with the Health Minister and argued the third dose should be treated as part of primary vaccination.
Ireland's vaccination campaign has been a great national success. Almost all adults have been vaccinated and we have the highest rate in Europe. Great credit is due to everybody involved, particularly front-line staff in the HSE centres, nurses, GPs and pharmacists. The national immunisation advisory committee's recommendation that every adult should be offered a third dose of vaccine is very welcome. We have seen the impact of boosters in both the UK and Israel. Almost 880,000 people in this country have received a booster, which is very positive news. However, we have seen issues with long queues at some HSE centres, which it is hoped will be resolved very quickly. People with underlying conditions are currently eligible to receive their booster dose from their GP. However, this may not be an option for them as many GPs are not offering boosters to those aged under 70 years. Many people cannot access the HSE walk-in clinics and they report having difficulty making bookings at pharmacies. This is making it very challenging for people with underlying conditions, some of which are quite serious, to access the booster programme. Will the Tánaiste raise this matter with the Minister for Health? How does he see the booster campaign progressing over the coming weeks?
Comment on this
I certainly will raise this matter with the Minister for Health, whom I will see today or tomorrow when we discuss the new advice from NPHET. I really welcome the fact that Deputy Devlin used the term "third dose". I really think we should stop using the term "booster dose". It is increasingly clear that this is a three-course primary vaccination, as is the case with many other vaccines. The use of the word "booster" implies it is in some way discretionary. Getting the third dose does not restore immunity to the level it was at after getting the second dose; it actually brings it to a higher level again. The early indication from Israel and elsewhere is that it is more durable and wanes more slowly. A total of 800,000 people have had their third dose. We expect to get to more than 1 million within the next week or so. I really encourage people to take up the offer of the third dose and see it as the third dose they need to get to protect them against this virus and not as a booster that is discretionary.