Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Black for raising this important matter. Ensuring there are vaccines and that they can be distributed equitably has been at the centre of Ireland's global public health and development assistance responses to the pandemic. The development of vaccines has been remarkably fast.

However, the vaccine roll out is complex, as we are aware, with countries at different stages of vaccine approval and global supply shortages. This means that access to Covid-19 vaccines varies widely between countries, often reflecting income levels.It is important too to invest in the capacity of healthcare systems, so that vaccines, once approved and received, can be delivered to people in a timely and safe manner.

The principle underpinning our approach to that equitable vaccine distribution is both the right thing and the smart thing in helping protect the most vulnerable everywhere and in also protecting ourselves. That is why Ireland is a strong supporter of the COVAX facility as the best way to achieve an equitable allocation of vaccines to low and middle-income countries, places such as the occupied Palestinian territories, according to an agreed set of governing principles developed by the World Health Organization.

COVAX centralises the procurement and allocation of vaccines so that the unit price of vaccines for less well-off countries is minimised. Working with partners, it ensures that needles, personal protective equipment, PPE, and other necessary ancillaries are also procured and distributed. Housed within the Global Vaccines Alliance, Gavi, COVAX aims to deliver 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to 92 low and middle-income countries. It has also negotiated options for a further 1 billion doses.

On 3 February COVAX confirmed that the occupied Palestinian territory was a priority participant in its programme and would receive 277,000 vaccine doses in quarter 1 and quarter 2 of 2021. It is expected that the Palestinian Authority will shortly receive its first COVAX consignment, following quickly on the first COVAX vaccine delivery shipped this week to Africa. Given the importance the Government attaches to equitable access to vaccines, Irish Aid last week allocated an additional €5 million support to the global vaccine effort. Some €4 million of that allocation went to COVAX for vaccine procurement and distribution and €1 million to the World Health Organization for its role in ensuring fairness and transparency.

As the Senator outlined, this will bring Ireland Aid's investment in global public health in 2021 to more than €50 million, which includes support to Gavi and the Global Fund, whose work is essential in ensuring that public health systems can mount vaccine campaigns.

There is widespread global support for COVAX. The EU announced that it would double its contribution to the initiative from €500 million to €1 billion. When taken with the commitments of individual member states, that will bring the EU pledge to COVAX to €2.2 billion. In addition, the US has pledged $4 billion, $2 billion of which it has made available for early disbursement.

Ireland continues to monitor issues around vaccine roll out in the occupied Palestinian territory mindful of the unique challenges that this context presents. The Palestinian Authority launched its own vaccination programme on 2 February administering doses to front-line healthcare workers, although it is very concerning that the programme is being suspended due to supply shortages. However, I am hopeful that with the impending delivery of the first COVAX consignment and the approval of new vaccines, availability and distribution to the occupied Palestinian territories will improve in the second quarter of 2021. Separate to the COVAX mechanism, 44,000 vaccine doses have been provided to the occupied Palestinian territory to date: 2,000 doses from Israel, 10,000 from Russia and 20,000 from the UAE to Gaza. Israel recently announced it will vaccinate 100,000 Palestinians who work in Israel, with that programme beginning this week.

The Government remains mindful of the importance of an equitable roll-out of vaccines in the occupied Palestinian territories, and all other developing contexts. I can assure the Senator of our continued attention to this issue in the months ahead.