Carol Nolan urges reopening cancer services as vaccine rolls out
Deputy Carol Nolan urged the urgent reopening of cancer services to run in tandem with economic reopening as the vaccine rollout progresses. She appealed directly to the Taoiseach and cited oncologists' warnings that delays could lead to higher cancer deaths over the coming decade.
Call for reopening cancer services
Deputy Carol Nolan told colleagues she attended an IBAC meeting and argued that, as vaccination milestones are reached, economic sectors should reopen and businesses allowed to recover. She emphasised that cancer services must be urgently reopened alongside restrictions to prevent harm to patients.
Oncologist warnings about delayed care
She referenced Professor O'Reilly, an oncologist, who raised very serious concerns and warned that without urgent action "for the next decade we're going to see a very high rate of deaths among cancer patients." Nolan used that warning to press for immediate advocacy for cancer service restoration.
Vaccine rollout milestones and impact on risk
Speakers in the debate noted vaccine progress but cautioned the impact on the pandemic risk profile is still limited, with only about 10% having received a shot at that stage. It was stated that a meaningful reduction in the R number would require roughly 40-50% of people to have received one vaccine dose. The Taoiseach reported engagement with President von der Leyen and expressed confidence that vaccine supply in the EU will increase in the second quarter, citing 300-360 million doses for April-May-June and more than a million doses a month coming to Ireland.
Government response on testing and cancer services
The Taoiseach thanked Deputy Nolan, agreed on the urgency of restoring cancer services and said the Government would do everything possible to get as many cancer services back up and running as soon as possible while warning of possible secondary deaths. He outlined testing measures, including extended PCR testing on demand in high-incidence areas such as parts of Dublin and Tullamore, and greater use of antigen testing in outbreaks and workplaces, but said the country was not yet ready to treat counties differently due to overall high incidence.
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I attended an IBAC meeting this morning and the point was just put across that as the vaccine has been rolled out and based on its progress and the milestones we should see reopening of this economic sector and to allow businesses to get back on their feet but in addition to that I also want to raise the very important issue of cancer services our cancer services need to be urgently reopened and they should be working in tandem with the restrictions I know that Professor O'Reilly who's an oncologist has raised very serious concerns and he says that for the next decade we're going to see a very high rate of deaths among cancer patients if we don't take urgent action and I just appeal to you Taoiseach, being from the medical profession, if you would please advocate for the reopening of cancer. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks very much deputies. On Tuesday we will give as much clarity as we can and as much hope as we can but we'll also need to be honest. We're not out of the woods yet. I am hopeful about the summer but the next couple of weeks are very worrying. The situation is deteriorating across Europe and appears to be deteriorating here as well and we'll give people as much clarity as we can but we've seen on so many occasions that this virus rips up our plans. And I don't want to give people assurances for six weeks time that we then have to withdraw in three weeks time that's not fair either. In terms of the risk profile, the risk profile will change because of the vaccine but only 10% of people have received a shot at this stage and it hasn't changed the risk profile enough at this stage. We really need to be up around 40-50% of people having received one vaccine before you'd see that having a meaningful impact on the R number and we're not there yet. On vaccine supply, I was at the EPP summit this morning engaged with President von der Leyen on this. She's doing everything she can and we're doing everything we can to speed up supply in the second quarter. It is going to speed up in the second quarter. She's confident that we'll have between 300 and 360 million doses in the European Union in the second quarter of the year. That's April, May, June. That's over 3 million doses, more than a million a month coming to Ireland in the second quarter. On testing, as I mentioned earlier, we're now extending PCR testing on demand to five parts of the country where there is a high incidence in Dublin and Tullamore. You don't need to go to your GP, you can just drop in for a test and we're also going to see greater use of antigen testing, particularly in outbreaks and in workplaces. I should say, we're not ready yet to treat different counties differently. Unfortunately, there is no county in Ireland at the moment where the incidence is low enough. Even where it's low, it's still 5, 10, 20 times what it was last summer. Finally, just in relation to cancer services, and it is Daffodil Day tomorrow. I want to thank Deputy Nolan for raising the issue of cancer services and I fully agree with her. We'll do everything we can to get as many cancer services back up and running as soon as possible. I do fear secondary deaths as a consequence of this pandemic. Not people dying with COVID, but people dying from other conditions because they didn't get the care they needed during the pandemic. Mm-hm. We'll see you soon after that. We want to thank you. Thank you. I'll let you start again. Thank you. I love you. Thank you. I love you, Andre Reid. Thanks for this. I hope you'll be here. Thank you. Thank you so much. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.
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