Government has no plans to buy surplus Covid-19 vaccines outside EU process

There are no plans to buy Covid-19 vaccines outside the EU process, the Department of Health has confirmed, while it remains unclear if surplus UK doses could be imported into the State.

Although health authorities here are administering vaccines as quickly as supplies arrive, the Department of Health says it does not intend to seek additional supplies from outside the EU framework. The department also confirmed that it is not prevented by EU rules from seeking supplies from companies outside the EU portfolio.

The EU has been widely criticised for the speed of its vaccination rollout, with the UK and US vaccinating people at a quicker pace. A UK government minister said last weekend that when the country has surplus stocks, it could transfer some to Ireland.

“You cannot say at the moment whether it would be legal or illegal,” a European Commission spokesman said of the proposal. “The question of legality depends on the case at the time.”

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The spokesman said such a move could involve shipping “unauthorised products” into the EU.

“Whether Ireland could rely on one of the derogations in the legislation that allows for the use of unauthorised medicines would depend on the situation at that point in time [for example], a scarcity with regard to the product that has been authorised in the EU,” he said.

The Department of Health also said that a process known as the EU “bazaar”, where countries bid for unused allocations of vaccines, was no longer operating as EU members were now taking up their full complement of the vaccine.

Previously, some EU countries have declined to take up their full allocations of particular vaccines, especially the Moderna shot which is the most expensive. Germany has sought to purchase some of this surplus, while France and Denmark have also been active in the market.

Supply

Ministers in Dublin have repeatedly said the only constraint on the vaccination programme is the pace of supply, but there are currently no efforts underway to increase it.

A spokesman for Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said: “At this point in time we are not seeking to source vaccines from outside of the EU process.

“Ireland has benefitted from inclusion in the Team Europe procurement solidarity approach in terms of increasing negotiating power in a globally competitive environment.

“It is anticipated that the collective approach will continue to assess vaccine candidates for potential for inclusion in any future negotiations.

“Ireland’s vaccine programme is predicated on the use of safe and effective vaccines, authorised after thorough review and recommendation by the European Medicines Agency.”

A Government spokesman said “it was always known” that supplies would be more limited in the first quarter of the year before increasing from April. “It is expected Ireland will eventually have a surplus of vaccines,” he said.