衛生部長哈里斯在星期三早上出現在2FM“與Doireann和Eoghan一起早餐”節目中，“說：“但是請記住，這是冠狀病毒Covid-19。這意味著還有其他18種冠狀病毒，我認為他們沒有實際上成功地(為 其他18種冠狀病毒 )找到了任何一種疫苗。”
衛生部長在星期三晚上在他的Twitter頁面上發布了一段視頻，他為這個錯誤表示歉意，聲稱他有時可能是“糟糕的傻瓜”。
他說：“我想指出的是，到目前為止，世界上有很多病毒還沒有疫苗。
為了清楚起見，世界衛生組織（WHO）表示Covid-19代表：冠狀病毒（CO）病毒（VI）疾病（D）和19（2019），即該病毒首次流行的年份。
Appearing on 2FM Breakfast with Doireann and Eoghan on Wednesday morning, Harris said: “But remember this is coronavirus, Covid-19. That means there have been 18 other coronaviruses and I don’t think they have actually successfully found a vaccine for any.”#AD
The Minister for Health posted a video on his Twitter page on Wednesday evening where he apologised for the mistake, claiming he can be an “awful aul’ idiot at times”.
He said: “I was trying to make the point that there has been lots of viruses in the world so far for which there hasn’t been a vacine found…
“Don’t ask me how or why, I can only presume it’s a degree of cabin fever after being in this department on a very regular basis for the last while maybe a bit of sleep deprivation, I stupidly talked about there being 18 other coronaviruses, which of course there isn’t. I can be an awful aul’ idiot at times.
“The point I’m trying to make is that lots of work is going on around the world to try and find a vaccine.”
For clarity, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that Covid-19 stands for: Corona (CO) Virus (VI) Disease (D) and 19 (2019), the year that the virus first hit.