Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In response to the Deputy’s first question, I had this conversation with the public health team this morning. They made a few points. We are going through the European Medicines Agency, EMA, process. The UK has its own process. That authorisation comes with advisory notes. Our public health people are saying that Ireland is signed up to six people. They are at various stages with the EMA. It looks like a decision will be made about the Pfizer vaccine first, then the Moderna vaccine. They are saying that different vaccines may be appropriate for different groups. Some vaccines may work better for people who are more vulnerable to it and people of different ages. They are looking to the EMA to provide this advice. Our experts will look at the UK’s advice too, but we will take our lead directly from the EMA. As the EMA issues that advice, it may well indicate the priority groups and say that it is not looking to vaccinate children in the short term, and so on. We will take our lead from the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, and the public health teams.

The Deputy is right about liability. The EU has waived liability, so Ireland, as with every other member state, is indemnifying the pharmaceutical companies to get access to the vaccine. I am not concerned from a safety perspective because the EMA is the regulator and I have been assured that even though the process is quicker because of the nature of Covid, the same standards and bars have been set as for every other medicine that we take. It will have the same safety standards as everything else that we go into a chemist to buy, whether it is prescribed or not.