Taoiseach says there will be ‘limited volumes’ of vaccine supply in January and February

TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said that there will be “limited volumes” of the Covid-19 vaccine in January and February and that May and June are likely to be the “optimal period” for launching the vaccine.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland about the government’s plans for the Covid-19 vaccine, Martin said he would hope it could start to be given to priority groups “the following week” after its approval.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) plans to hold an extraordinary emergency meeting regarding the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine no later than December 29 and a similar meeting regarding the Moderna vaccine on January 12.

Martin said “an entire planning workforce” is involved in delivering the vaccine to the first priority groups and more details of the implementation plans will be released tomorrow.

However, he cautioned that the process is likely to take a few months:

Just to say that what will happen at the European level, and at the Irish level, January and February will have limited volumes of vaccine, and they go to the priority areas that we have identified. We will have enough for the priority areas. The largest volumes will begin arriving in March, April and May, as other vaccines go live and vaccine manufacturing increases around the world.

“There is a time frame for this and people need to be aware of this and this is not just in Ireland, it is everywhere,” added the Taoiseach.

“I think its optimal period is moving towards the May / June period, and then we will be fully open after that. Therefore, there is a kind of approach to schedule in stages, depending on the availability of the vaccine, the manufacture of the vaccine and the arrival in the country. “

The High Level Working Group on Covid-19 Vaccination delivered its report to the government last week and its content will be discussed by the Cabinet tomorrow.

According to sequence plans, nursing home residents age 65 and older and staff at these facilities will receive the vaccine first.

Next in line will be front-line healthcare workers in direct patient contact roles, then those 70 and older, with people 85 and older getting the vaccine first among that cohort.

Speaking this morning, the Taoiseach said that people should see the vaccine as “a complementary tool to the measures we are already using in terms of restrictions.”

Yesterday, Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan said he was concerned that the incidence of Covid-19 is starting to rise after 429 new cases were confirmed last night.

The Taoiseach said it was also “concerned” by this increase, but noted that Ireland is still at a low level compared to most EU member states.

“We were in a different position coming to the EU Council meeting in terms of the low numbers we have in Ireland, but of course we know how this can grow exponentially, and the virus can grow, so I’m concerned about that.” , said. .

“We had six weeks of severe restrictions, I think it was natural and the right thing to do to ease those restrictions. At the end of those six weeks, personal behavior is essential as we enter the Christmas period, we all have to keep an eye on our contacts. ”