Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1462. To ask the Minister for Health the number of vaccines exported by Ireland to other countries to date by country in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63343/21]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1463. To ask the Minister for Health the number of vaccines exported by the European Union to other countries to date by country in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63344/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1462 and 1463 together.

I understand that the Deputy is referring to vaccine sharing. Universal and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines is a priority for Ireland and the EU. The COVAX donation mechanism represents our best chance to distribute vaccines quickly and fairly to those who need them most.

In December the Government approved the donation of up to three million vaccine doses. This builds on and is additional to Government’s previous commitment to donate two million vaccines.

Ireland has to-date made specific commitments for the donation of 2.9m vaccine doses, comprised of 335,500 doses donated bilaterally to Uganda and 2.6m to the COVAX global vaccine initiative as part of a ‘Team Europe’ contribution.

The COVAX donation process follows several complex steps and coordination across multiple stakeholders. Our donated vaccines have already been delivered to a number of countries including Uganda, Nigeria, Indonesia, and Ghana. Over 1.3m COVID-19 vaccines donated by Ireland have been delivered to-date to recipient countries (comprised of over 1m via COVAX and over 300,000 bilaterally.

In addition to donated doses, Ireland contributed €8.5m to COVAX last year.

On 6 January, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen stated that Europe is the biggest donor of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and has exceeded its vaccine sharing target. Europe shared 380 million doses with low and middle income countries by the end of 2021, mostly through COVAX. Of these doses more than 255 million were already delivered to recipient countries.

The table below outlines donated Irish vaccine deliveries to-date.