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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that Covid-19 vaccines will be free for people across the country as Ireland prepares to start vaccines next month.
Speaking at a meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party last night, the Taoiseach said that the vaccines would be released in a sequence and that healthcare workers, the elderly and nursing homes would receive them as a priority.
Covid-19 vaccines are expected to be rolled out in Ireland and Europe starting next month, with European regulators expected to decide on an approval request “within a few weeks” and another shortly thereafter.
Mr Martin said last night that up to 10 vaccines could be made available to Ireland as “part of the EU consortium”.
At his party’s meeting, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told his colleagues that the government “has to” compensate pharmaceutical companies that produce vaccines, adding that before it was made with the vaccine against swine flu. Varadkar also said that the country will need an IT system in Ireland to allow effective deployment of the vaccines.
A working group on the Covid-19 vaccine, led by Brian MacCraith, is working on preparations and a plan to implement a vaccination program, which is expected to be completed on December 11. groups of elderly and at risk people.
Donnelly said the task force was “confident” that the necessary infrastructure, such as freezers, would be in place to implement approved vaccines.
Martin also confirmed that nine refrigerated trucks were delivered to Dublin this week as part of the preparations.
The administration of the Covid-19 vaccine, the Taoiseach said, would be “huge” and could not be rushed: “We should in no way create a pressure zone on the regulatory authority to do the right thing here.”
The UK became the first country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday and plans to start vaccinations with the Pfizer / BioNtech vaccine from next week.
While vaccinations will begin in the north starting next week, it will take a little longer for that to happen in the Republic and Europe.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it expects to decide on the Pfizer / BioNtech vaccine by December 29 and on the Moderna mRNA vaccine by January 12.
The European Union has pre-ordered two billion doses of vaccines in development, but none can be administered without being approved as safe and effective by regulators.
Any EMA decision will need to be approved by the European Commission before the vaccines are approved for use by EU member states.
The Irish regulator, the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), said it is working alongside the EMA on the approval process. “The HPRA will be an active participant in the review of the Covid-19 vaccine applications that are being made,” said a spokesperson.
The UK health secretary said that Brexit had a role to play in the approval process as the UK was no longer subject to the EMA and authorities did not have to keep up with the Europeans.
Following a briefing with the EMA, Health Minister Stephen Donnelley said the approval process is not far behind the UK and could happen “in a few weeks”.
“There is not much difference. There are a few weeks apart. It’s basically because we are working with the European Medicines Agency; the UK, after Brexit, obviously has its own process, ”Donnelly told RTE. .
Once authorized, it will take from a week to 10 days to distribute a vaccine, he said: “The UK is taking seven to 10 days from authorization to distribution. The opinion is that in Ireland it would be more or less the same ”.
Dismissing calls for a minister to take responsibility for a Covid-19 vaccination program, the Taoiseach said that the Department of Health and HSE had a lot of experience and expertise in vaccination programs.
His comments came as another 270 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland, in addition to five other deaths.
News: 4
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