Taoiseach: 46,500 extra Pfizer vaccine doses coming to Ireland

Ireland will receive about 1.1% of the four million extra doses for the EU, based on population.

Ireland will receive 46,500 extra doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine thanks to a new EU deal announced today.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed this, saying the doses will arrive in Ireland before the end of the month.

He said: “Pleased this morning to have confirmation from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Ireland will secure an additional 46,500 Pfizer BioNTech vaccines before the end of March.

“When they get here, they will be administered quickly. Efforts ongoing to increase production.”

An agreement for four million extra doses for the EU, to be delivered by the end of the month, was announced by the European Commission president this morning

Ireland will receive about 1.1% of this, based on population, as with all of these deals. 

Ms Von der Leyen said: “I'm happy to announce today an agreement with BioNTech-Pfizer, who will offer to member states to make available a total of four million doses of vaccines before the end of March which will be supplied in addition to the planned dose deliveries.

“This will help member states in their efforts to keep the spread of new variants under control.” 

Ireland’s vaccine roll-out has been slowed down by reduced supply of all three vaccines currently available, including a temporary slowdown on Pfizer delivery in January.

Just yesterday, the head of the HSE Paul Reid said Ireland was facing a downturn in vaccine deliveries. He was then expecting about 1.1m doses by the end of this month, so this new deal will mean a significant boost. This vaccine is currently used mainly for people aged over 70. 

The commission head said these increased deliveries in March are a result of the successful expansion of manufacturing capacities in Europe which was completed by mid-February.

The European Medicines Agency is expected to approve the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccines on Thursday. Ireland has ordered 2.2 million of this through advance purchase orders.

The increased focus on the vaccine programme in the EU is a reaction to the tragic impact of a number of virus variants including the B.117.

The Commission said: “Despite the current reduction in the number of deaths across the EU, due to vaccination of the elderly and most vulnerable people, the Commission is concerned by the development of a series of Covid-19 hotspots across the EU.

“This is caused, in particular, by the spread of new variants, which are more contagious.”