Government Roll out of Vaccine will Take 48 years at Current Speed. -Tóibín
Aontú leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has stated that, at the current speed of Vaccine roll out it will take 48 years to vaccinate the population. He stated;
“Given the surge in Covid cases, hospital admissions and ICU admissions, given the death and the ill health, given the shut down of society again to the most draconian levels, given the cost in billions of each week of this catastrophe, it is absolutely breath taking that the government has not got it together to deliver the vaccines we have to those who want them”.
“Fianna Fáil Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has stated that in the first week of roll out only 4,000 injections have been delivered. This despite the fact that it is reported that 40,000 vaccines have been delivered to Ireland. At this pace it will take 48 years to vaccinate the population of state. Israel has delivered 280,000 vaccines in the same time scale as Ireland delivering 4,000.”
“Its nearly 2 months since Pfizer Biontec confirmed successful trails of their vaccine. The EU approved the Pfizer Biontec vaccine over 2 weeks ago. There has been significant time for the government to iron out difficulties in the administration of the vaccine. Yet no schedule for delivery has been published. Regional locations have not been detailed. We were told in Nursing Homes would have started by now. Shockingly it has not. Confusion surrounds IT systems, consent preparation measures to protect Nursing Homes from further out breaks and who exactly is going to administer the vaccine. Will it be GPs Pharmacists, retired staff etc? This is even before we focus on the problems at EU level to the procurement of the vaccine”.
“All the while opposition TDs are being kept in the dark as to what is happening. A government omnishambles is unfolding before us literally in slow motion. We are demanding that the Minister for Bealth brief party leaders immediately in order to fix this now”.
