Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There has been a wobble on the supply of Johnson & Johnson vaccines. We welcome the idea of a block buy across Europe and the element of solidarity that will ensure that everybody gets the vaccine. I accept that the European Union, in allowing exports, also allows for other places to be vaccinated. I would like to home in on Mr. Breton's work as a vaccine hunter, which is a nickname I commend him on as it is one I would not mind having. We talk about the huge number of vaccines that had been exported. At the end of March, that figure was around 77 million doses. We had a stash, for want of a better term, of AstraZeneca and that was said to be down to the work of Mr. Breton and I commend him on that. I add my voice to those of everyone else in saying that AstraZeneca did seem to engage in fly-boy capitalism. Perhaps the piece of work that Mr. Breton was doing should have kicked into action quicker. Could he give the detail of how that worked? What were his successes?

There is a wider conversation about finding out the absolute capacity that exists within the pharmaceutical industry from the point of view of producing as many vaccines as possible for Europe and the entire world. As has already been said, none of us is safe until all of us are safe. I accept its involvement with COVAX, but has the Commission looked into the likes of the coronavirus treatment acceleration programme, CTAP, and the idea of pharmaceutical companies forgoing, for a fair price, intellectual property and so on, to ensure that we get maximum roll-out? We have been told that roll-out in some parts of the world will not happen until 2023 or 2024. We know the difficulties around strains of the virus. That could have a considerable cost in terms of lives and health but could cost trillions in world trade. We cannot afford not to vaccinate everyone. Will Mr. Breton give me any information he has on that matter?

Will Mr. Breton give me his view on his dealings with the British Government as regards the Irish protocol and where it stands at the moment? I know that nobody is ever certain of where they stand when they are negotiating with a British Government.

I would also like to know the Commission's view on mandatory hotel quarantine, if Mr. Breton has time to reply. He might have to come back to me on that in writing. It seems the Commission may have a difficulty with hotel quarantine. We are, obviously, very worried about different strains of the virus, particularly the B1617 variant from India.