The coronavirus costs the health service more than 2,500 million euros

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The health service has spent more than 2.5 billion euros to tackle Covid-19, bringing total health spending this year to 20.4 billion euros.

The figures were given by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, who appeared before the Oireachtas Health Committee.

He told members that the Executive of the Health Service has predicted that this year 920 million euros will be spent on personal protective equipment (PPE).

According to Donnelly, it was the most significant medium-term cost incurred by the Department.

PPE stock levels at the end of the year will be equivalent to the 12-year supply.

The tests and contact tracing cost 276 million euros in total, delivering almost two million tests.

Minister Donnelly also told politicians that Ireland is ready to receive 15.6 million doses of vaccines, if approved. He gave a breakdown to the committee:

Astrazeneca – 3.3 m
Janssen – 2.2 million
Sanofi – 3.3 million
Pfizer / Biontech – 2.3 million
Modern – 875,000
CureVac – No details yet

Ireland has spent 117 million euros on Covid-19 vaccines. Minister Donnelly said he understands that Ireland is “locked in” to pay for vaccines, regardless of whether they are approved or not.

Donnelly said that he thinks a Covid-19 vaccine should be released for free. However, he said no government decision has been made.

It’s not necessarily true that the first approved vaccine is the one everyone gets, he added.

Donnelly told Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane that he understood that different vaccines are better suited to different people, based on their age and other factors.

Congressman Cullinane asked if the GP, pharmacy and other administrative costs will be covered.

The minister said that while no decision has been made, he expects all costs to be covered, similar to the flu vaccine.

He said “we can’t have any situation where there might be an issue of access being an issue because of affordability.”

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Earlier, Donnelly said that the European Medicines Agency will carry out a final review of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on December 29 and, if approved, it could begin shipping in Ireland in early January.

Donnelly said the EMA indicated today that the approval of a second Moderna vaccine will be decided at a second meeting on January 12.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Donnelly said the EMA is also considering the credentials of the AstroZeneca / Oxford vaccine and a fourth Jansen vaccine.

He said “this is good news … we now have the lowest Covid rate in the EU.”

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The chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization has said that we can be confident of the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines when available, due to the scrutiny they are under.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, Professor Karina Butler said that the EU, the UK and the FDA in the US, as well as a number of other agencies in various countries, have been independently analyzing data from the process of development of the vaccine.

He said that a lot of work had already been done on these types of vaccines before this pandemic, and the science is already there.

Public health physician Dr. Gabriel Scally said there is room for discussion about which groups of people should be prioritized for the vaccine.

Speaking about RTÉ’s Drivetime, he said that if supplies are limited, we should implement the vaccine in the areas where the incidence is highest.

Dr. Scally added that we know that the vaccine protects people from the serious effects of the disease, but we don’t yet know if it prevents them from transmitting it.



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