Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lowry for raising this pertinent issue. He makes a very fair point, one I am conscious of myself having been approached by a number of citizens who are working abroad in the Gulf region, in particular in countries such as the UAE.

Of course, many of these people have been administered the Sinopharm vaccine and they are fully vaccinated. One of the challenges has been that only vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency, EMA, are currently regarded as complying fully with our requirements and removing the need for hotel quarantining for those who are fully vaccinated. I understand that Sinopharm is currently under a rolling review by the EMA. The Minister for Health has said in the House that this is certainly something we can take under consideration. We will keep it under review and will link in with the EMA and the WHO on this. As the Deputy knows, work is ongoing to develop the digital Covid certificate.

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