Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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518. To ask the Minister for Health the number of Covid-19 vaccines which have been pledged by Ireland to other countries since March 2020; and the details of these pledges and donations, broken down by terms of location and vaccine type, in tabular form. [45633/22]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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519. To ask the Minister for Health the number of Covid-19 vaccines that have been donated to other countries since March 2022; and the details of these pledges and donations, broken down by location and vaccine type, in tabular form. [45634/22]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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520. To ask the Minister for Health the date that each consignment of Covid-19 vaccine doses arrived in each respective recipient country; and the expiry date associated with each respective consignment. [45635/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 518 to 520, inclusive, together.

Universal and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines is a priority for Ireland and the EU. Ireland has committed to donate up to 5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and over 2.1 million doses have already been delivered, mainly through the COVAX global vaccine initiative. The COVAX facility is a collaborative initiative, established to accelerate worldwide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and is the most effective mechanism to distribute vaccines quickly and fairly to those who need them most. Arrangements are currently in place for the delivery of a further 1.9 million doses through COVAX (est. delivery September/October). Ireland has also committed €13.5m in financing to the COVAX facility to facilitate the purchase of vaccines by low and lower middle-income countries and to cover the transport and insurance costs associated with donations.

The below table sets out the vaccine doses delivered through COVAX to date with the exception of Uganda where the donation was on a bilateral basis.

It has been requested that donations to COVAX meet certain minimum standards including a recommendation for a minimum of 10 weeks shelf life when donated vaccine doses arrive in-country. Officials in my Department engage extensively with relevant stakeholders to ensure donated vaccines distributed through COVAX have adequate shelf life to meet recipient country requirements.

The COVAX donation process follows several complex steps and coordination across multiple stakeholders. The vaccine donation landscape has become increasingly complex with many developing countries experiencing significant absorption, administration and hesitancy challenges that prevent matching available supply with need.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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521. To ask the Minister for Health if his Department records the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses procured by the Government which have expired without being used; and if so, the details of these expirations, broken down by vaccine type, in tabular form. [45636/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.