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The Irish government is not aware of any UK plan to offer 3.7 million Covid-19 vaccines to the Republic.
It comes after a Sunday Times report outlining how the British government is considering making the offer, in part to help ease lockdown restrictions in Northern Ireland.
A government spokesperson here said: “The UK has previously indicated that once it has achieved a high level of vaccination of its own population, it would consider sharing vaccines with other countries.”
However, he added: “We are not aware of any specific plans to share vaccines with Ireland at this stage.
“The governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom are in close contact on all matters of common interest.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces calls to start donating vaccines or risk hoarding supplies.
The proposed exports to Ireland would be Britain’s first time exporting blows to the European Union and the Sunday Times reported that a cabinet minister said it would be a “hit in the eye” for Brussels amid a dispute over supplies.
The newspaper reported that UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Cabinet Minister Michael Gove and Northern Secretary Brandon Lewis have had “preliminary discussions” about the plan with a Cabinet source who says that it could start after Easter.
The government here believes that the UK still has significant challenges in its own vaccine supply.
One source said the state continues to explore “all possibilities” to ensure prompt delivery of the vaccine.
In response to the Sunday Times report, UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden said the UK does not “currently have a surplus” of coronavirus vaccines.
He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “Clearly our first priority is to make sure we deliver vaccines in the UK.
“Clearly, we currently do not have a surplus of vaccines, if we got to the point where we had a surplus of vaccines, we would make decisions about the allocation of that surplus.”
‘Accelerated action’
Johnson is also facing calls to immediately begin donating vaccines to poorer nations, and health and development charities urged Johnson on Sunday to take “accelerated action” and “quickly clarify” how the doses will be shared.
Wellcome, led by Sage scientist Sir Jeremy Farrar, and Save the Children UK were among those who made the demand in a letter to the prime minister.
With more than half of adults having an injection, they say the UK is “one of the world’s largest buyers per capita” of vaccines and is on track to have more than 100 million surplus doses.
“There is therefore a high risk that the UK will accumulate a limited supply while health workers and the most vulnerable in low and middle income countries do not have access,” the letter says.
“The UK will have enough surplus vaccine doses to vaccinate the world’s front-line healthcare workers twice.”
They are urging Britain to start donating doses immediately through the Covax initiative, which is working to provide vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.
The government responded that it will share “most of any future surplus” of vaccines with the Covax group “when they become available.”
The case for the experts is not just moral: they point to research suggesting that vaccine nationalism and uneven distribution of blows could cost the UK £ 106bn (€ 123bn).
100 million doses left over
Sir Jeremy said the UK will have contractual access to at least 100 million surplus doses once the entire population is vaccinated, which he said “will not be of use in the UK”.
“Now is the time to think beyond our borders. The world will not be safe as long as a single country is still fighting the virus, ”he said.
“If allowed to spread, it runs the risk of mutating to a point where our vaccines and treatments no longer work. This goes beyond ethics: it is a scientific and economic imperative. Science has given us the exit strategy. We must use it correctly. “
Anti-poverty campaigns One and Global Citizen also signed the letter, as did the charity Results UK and the Pandemic Action Network.
A UK government spokesperson said: “The UK has played a leading role in advocating for global access to coronavirus vaccines. This includes contributing £ 548 million, as one of the largest donors, to Covax’s Advanced Market Engagement, which has already helped 20 lower-middle countries to receive doses.
“The Prime Minister has confirmed that the UK will share the majority of future surplus coronavirus vaccines from our supply with the Covax group, when available. No one is safe until we are all safe. “
‘Promising evidence’
During a discussion on the Conservatives’ spring virtual forum on Saturday, Johnson said a “third wave” is being witnessed in parts of Europe and that “bitter experience” has taught him that this could affect the UK for “three weeks. after”.
But he added: “There is a lot of promising evidence that many people who could be vulnerable are now protected against death and serious illness, that’s my hope, my hunch.
Johnson remained optimistic that his roadmap to ease England’s restrictions may continue, saying there is a “good chance” of allowing non-essential retailers to reopen on April 12, when hairdressers are also slated to reopen.
Data as of Friday showed 29,727,435 people in the UK took a first hit, up from 411,305 the day before.
The government said 58 other people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday, bringing the UK total to 126,573.
In Wales, lockdown restrictions were relaxed when the requirement to “stay local” was lifted on Saturday and people were allowed to stay in self-contained holiday accommodation.
England’s lockdown will be relaxed on Monday when the “stay-at-home” order ends and groups of up to six people, or two households, can gather outside. – Additional reports: PA
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