Paul Murphy urges using Omicron 'breathing space' to act
Paul Murphy said the Omicron wave was less destructive than feared and warned against wasting the breathing space that has been afforded. He urged the Government to use that time to make society more Covid- and pandemic-resilient through ventilation, masks and global vaccine equity.
Assessment of Omicron window
He described the Omicron wave as less destructive than feared and argued the present period must be used to strengthen protections rather than be forgotten.
Ventilation and clean air rights
He pressed the Government to ensure workers have the right to clean air, to proceed quickly with implementing the ventilation bill which was passed through second stage, and to roll out HEPA filters in schools.
Masks and workplace protection
He called for every worker to have the right to a high-quality, high-grade FFP2 mask or equivalent, noting they should be available as they are for TDs and Senators.
Global vaccine equity
He said avoiding future variants requires scrapping patents on vaccines, supporting the people's vaccine and distributing doses around the world to the 40% of the world's population who still do not have a single dose.
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It is very positive that the Omicron wave was less destructive than it was feared it could have been. The question for now is that we do not waste the breathing space that we have been afforded, that we use it to make our society more Covid and more pandemic resilient, rather than just forgetting about it. So the question for the Government is whether you are going to ensure that workers have the right to clean air in workplaces, to proceed as quickly as possible to implement our ventilation bill which was passed through second stage for example, to ensure that everyone has the right to clean air, to implement the HEPA filters in the schools that we need, to ensure that every worker has the right to a high-quality, high-grade FFP2 mask or equivalent like TDs and Senators. But also if we are to avoid more variants of concern, it means scrapping the patents on the vaccines, supporting the people's vaccine so that vaccines are distributed around the world to the 40% of the world's population who still do not have a single dose. Thank you.
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