DUBLIN: Previously, there were concerns among EU countries, including Ireland, as rumours circulated that only less vaccines would be available than previously agreed. Following this, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen intervened to ensure that more doses of the vaccine were available.
European Commission President von Der Lane held a video conference with CEOs of vaccine companies to convince them of the serious threat posed by the new virus.
President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Twitter that Ireland would receive more than 100,000 AstraZeneca vaccines. The European Union receives a total of 40 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines. Of this, Ireland’s share will be 99,000. AstraZeneca administers 4,00,000 doses out of 600,000.
Ms. von der Leyen said on Twitter that AstraZeneca would begin delivery a week ahead of schedule. She added that the company will increase its production capacity in Europe. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said this shows that Ireland will receive more vaccines in the next two months.
The company had said that there would be a reduction in doses due to production issues. The European Union (EU) has demanded that doses be shipped from factories in the UK. Eight million more doses were offered by the company to resolve the dispute. But an EU official revealed that this was far less than originally promised.
Meanwhile, EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has come to the scene, alleging that Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol has been brought unnecessarily into a dispute over the vaccine distribution.
It has been reported that the European Commission will implement Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to introduce new monitoring restrictions on the export of COVID-19 vaccines.
She said that the matter had not been brought to her attention in advance and that the procedure followed by the commission president in this regard was not right.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the commission was trying to ensure transparency in the distribution of vaccines. But he also said it was not right to use the mechanism required by Article 16 to deal with this.
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