Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has said he took offence at any perception that members of the public would deliberately manipulate antigen tests.
“I have yet to meet somebody rubbing [a buffer on] an antigen test. Give me a break,” he said.
In a strong response to the criticism of antigen testing by senior figures of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) at the Oireachtas transport committee this week, Mr Harris took issue with the idea that people would be dishonest in their approach to antigen.
Mr Harris said his view was not based on anything that was said at the meeting of the transport committee which heard from senior Nphet figures, including State chief medical officer Tony Holohan. He said it was the inference that might have been taken by some people following references to two experiments where a buffer and tonic water were used to generate false negatives and false positives.
“[What] I did find somewhat offensive yesterday was not from Dr Holohan and not from members of Nphet [but it] was this idea that the public would be looking to manipulate tests.
“The people I know in this country have only looked to keep themselves and their families alive and looked to keep their businesses alive.”
Society reopening
Mr Harris was referring to deep divisions that have emerged within the medical and scientific communities over antigen testing which is cheap to use, delivers results in 20 minutes but is not as accurate as PCR tests. Senior Nphet figures including Dr Holohan, Philip Nolan and Ronan Glynn have advised against moves for wider use of the tests as society reopens. Their views are at variance with those of chief scientific adviser Mark Ferguson, who has recommended their wider use.
Mr Harris said that Nphet had said it was up to each sector to decide if there was an application for rapid tests. Dr Holohan said he is open to a pilot study, for example, in the aviation sector.
“[What] my sector and many doctors and scientists are talking about [is] in addition to PCR, is there any benefit in putting together a surveillance system?” asked Mr Harris.
“I think there is sense to see if we can put testing in place to put that robust surveillance system in place,” he said.
He said that Nphet members had different views.
“My view on this is that if you are in the middle of a pandemic you have to constantly say, ‘what more can we do, what new things can we do?’ ” he said.
Mr Harris and Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys were speaking ahead of the third evening of the Fine Gael Ardfheis, which is taking place online. She said there were 400 hubs countrywide and they would be joined together through the national hub network. She said in the post-coronavirus scenario many people could now do blended working, where they worked for two days a week, for example, in a hub and did the remaining three days from home.
