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Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said that Ireland is “in line” with the rest of the EU27 when it comes to the launch of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Prime Time, he said that when the European Medicines Agency approves the vaccine, there should be a launch in early January.
“This is good news and a good week for Ireland in our fight against Covid,” said Minister Donnelly. He added that we have the lowest rate of Covid-19 cases in the EU.
Stephen Donnelly said the UK has its own regulator and has taken a different approach [to EU 27].
The Health Minister said he has full confidence in the EMA.
“The UK is a few weeks ahead of us, but it is fine,” said Minister Donnelly.
He said that Covid-19 cases in Ireland continue to fall, but at a slower rate.
The latest model suggests that “the lowest point” could be sometime next week, he said.
Minister Donnelly said that point would come sooner than experts expected.
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Earlier, the tannaist Leo Varadkar reaffirmed that the Cabinet will decide all matters related to the deployment of Covid-19 vaccines and that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will spearhead the program.
He told the Dáil that it was not “rocket science” to know who would be prioritized to get the vaccine first: those who need it most.
Mr. Varadkar predicted that they would be health workers; nursing home residents; Old people; those with chronic illnesses; as well as high-risk work environments, such as meat factories.
Labor leader Alan Kelly said there were important questions surrounding the data collection and launch of the vaccine: “Are we prepared … do we need emergency legislation?”
Rep. Kelly added: “We can’t get confused about this … we need to have a person in charge.”
The Tanaiste responded by saying “… the government is in control.”
Regarding Rep. Kelly’s question about private companies that buy vaccines and give them to their workers, Varadkar said the state would not want its own free vaccine program undermined.
However, it considered that it was “unlikely” that this happened because the companies did not have pre-purchase agreements with the vaccine producers.
As for data legislation, he said the matter was being reviewed to see if it was necessary.
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