TD’s and Senators have been invited to attend a seminar in Leinster House exploring how Ireland can “maximise the impact of vaccination in a post-pandemic Ireland.”
The seminar which is due to take place this coming Wednesday at 11am is being supported by pharmaceutical giant MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme) Ireland.
The event has been organised to mark World Immunisation Week and is being held by the Irish Society for Immunology and the organisation, Vaccines Today. Vaccines Today is a member of the WHO’s Vaccine Safety Net network of websites. It is also solely funded by Vaccines Europe, a specialised group of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).
The panel of guests due to attend the Leinster House event include Prof Kingston Mills of Trinity College Dublin and Dr Corinna Sadlier, Consultant in Infectious Diseases, Cork University Hospital
The invitation sent to Oireachtas members outlined how “COVID-19 has altered our way of thinking about vaccines. From the speed of the research and development through to unique delivery systems, barriers that were once deemed impenetrable have been removed and the public have never been more aware of the importance of immunisation.”
It went on to observe that “prior to the pandemic, a relatively small proportion of the health budget was dedicated to vaccines. As we look to ‘build back better’, how do we utilise the range of vaccines available to us now and in the future, to best protect public health in Ireland across all life stages?”
The invitation to Oireachtas members was sent by the Public Policy Manager at Merck on behalf of the Irish Society for Immunology and Vaccines Today.