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Covid: Has State’s vaccination rollout reached a positive tipping point?

Inside Politics: J&J vaccine use is approved and AstraZeneca restrictions are eased

A file photograph of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 Janssen vaccine boxes. Photograph: JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images
A file photograph of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 Janssen vaccine boxes. Photograph: JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images
Jack Horgan-Jones's picture
Jack Horgan-Jones
Tue Apr 27 2021 - 08:15

Good morning – another leisurely week of political action beckons. Not content with having one Cabinet meeting in the diary this week, a second has been arranged for Thursday, when final decisions will be taken on the next steps in unlocking the country.

Between them, there’s a crucial meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), a Cabinet subcommittee meeting (both on Wednesday) and all the usual fun of the parliamentary fair.

As we report in our lead article, the ever-shifting contours of the vaccination programme continue to, well, shift.

It’s good news for the vaccination programme; an optimistic view is this development clears the path for a sprint finish in an effort to hit Government’s target of 82 per cent of the adult population receiving at least one jab by the end of June.

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The next few weeks could see J&J and AstraZeneca being used to vaccinate 50-69-year-olds, and vulnerable communities such as Roma, Travellers and the homeless.

Meanwhile, the State’s stocks of mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna will be pointed squarely at the medically vulnerable, who should have their vaccinations completed by late May or early June.

Around the same time, J&J supplies are scheduled to significantly scale up, from 132,000 doses in May to 432,000 in June. From there on out, it should be about mass vaccination centres and younger cohorts flooding through them.

Of course, the usual caveats apply about supply and finding enough vaccinators to ensure the process runs smoothly, but last night’s news could mark an inflection point in the vaccine programme.

Behind the scenes, however, we hear that heads were scratched, brows furrowed and oaths muttered when news of the vaccine developments began to seep out, apparently before the chief medical officer – much less the Minister, vaccine taskforce HSE or Coalition leaders – had been officially informed.

Coming after what some in Government saw as an unhurried approach to issuing its latest advices, it won’t do the relationship with the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) any good. There are grumblings that Niac, while populated with unparalleled minds, lacks many of the resources and trappings of a fully-fledged State agency and is effectively a voluntary body unused to the volume or intensity of work associated with the pandemic.

Maybe the good vibes may be enough to paper over the cracks in this relationship – for now at least.

Away from the vaccine programme, it’s a packed Cabinet agenda, with Ministers set to hear updates from five of the seven biggest-spending Government departments as the State begins to edge its way towards unwinding pandemic spending.

The first step is to measure the spending – and the Departments of Justice, Social Protection, Housing, Education and Further Education are slated to give a rundown of how much has been spent on interventions such as the pandemic unemployment payment and commercial rates holiday.

We hear today is all about outlining the spending rather than how it might be unwound - the Cabinet subcommittee on economic recovery, currently set to meet on Wednesday, is where the tough talk about tapering of supports might kick off.

The Cabinet will also hear of major Garda reforms, while Coillte’s increasingly troubled finances are on the agenda too. Ministers will be briefed on the State’s €915 million allocation under the European recovery funds, as well as getting an update on Brexit (remember that?).

EU trade agreements, digital recording by the Garda, as well as annual reports for the pandemic-challenged DAA and Shannon Groups, are also on the agenda.

Crime Correspondent Conor Gallagher has the details of the Garda reform package here.

Our front page line-up is completed by Jack Power's report on the children's ombudsman report on children living in direct provision:

Best reads

Not strictly speaking political, but Rozanna Purcell's guide to hikes nationwide should prime us for Micheál Martin and Tony Holohan's outdoor summer.

We're not sure exactly how we'll get to all these walks, hemmed into our counties. Maybe Rozanna has been talking to the junior ministers agitating for relaxation of the travel ban?

The Taoiseach managed to nimbly avoid a stream of unpleasantness that was directed his way by a cheeky monkey during a visit to the zoo. Good practice for the committee this afternoon, you'd think.

In Berlin, Derek Scally charts the rise of Armin Laschet.

While in Edinburgh, Denis Staunton writes about the return of a political bruiser who may be bloodied but insists he is unbowed.

Fintan O'Toole is worth reading this (as every) morning, if only for the comparisons between Boris Johnson and "some dude with a big bong writing awful poetry at 3am".

Laura Cahillane of UL is writing on the constitutional challenge and political imperative laid down by the Citizens' Assembly recommendation on the "woman in the home" provision.

Playbook

First up, Cabinet is meeting from 9am.

It’s a busy – nay flat out – day across the Dáil committees, sandwiched into shorter time slots by Covid restrictions. The climate action committee meets at 9.30am, hearing from Eirgrid and Wind Energy Ireland.

At the same time, the enterprise, trade and employment committee hears from Minister of State Damien English on employment legislation. It could be a lively meeting of the housing committee, which will get an update from Darragh O’Brien on his plans to facilitate outdoor dining, as well as continuing its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Affordable Housing Bill. That’s also at 9.30am.

Skillnet Ireland and Solas will give evidence on apprenticeships to the education committee at 12.30pm, while the foreign affairs committee will get an update on the situation in Myanmar.

The transport committee will hear from Transport Infrastructure Ireland, and the National Transport Authority, on the Road Traffic Bill.

Micheál Martin is in front of the finance committee – ostensibly on estimates for agencies under his department – but expect plenty of action on the appointment of Robert Watt to the post of secretary general in the Department of Health. That’s at 3.15pm, with the children’s committee continuing pre-legislative scrutiny of the institutional burials Bill, hearing from campaigners for adoptee rights and mother and baby homes survivors.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe will be before the committee on budgetary oversight, and Stephen Donnelly before the health committee, at 3.30pm and 4pm, respectively.

In the evening, at 6.30pm, the agriculture committee will review EU regulations on veterinary products, and the sport committee will hear evidence on issues facing women in sport.

The justice committee will hear from campaigners – including Ireland Inc and multinational antagonist Max Schrems – and the Data Protection Commissioner. Finally, Simon Coveney will appear before the EU affairs committee on the Northern Ireland protocol.

With an agenda like that for committees, it’s no surprise the Dáil and Seanad aren’t sitting until Wednesday.

Away from the Oireachtas, we expect to hear more today on the expansion of the mandatory hotel quarantine list to include India and potentially others.