Taoiseach to discuss Covid-19 vaccines with Joe Biden next week

Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed he had spoken to the CEO of Johnson & Johnson on Friday. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Taoiseach Micheál Martin will raise the issue of Covid vaccines with US president Joe Biden when both men speak as part of St Patrick's Day events next week.

The Taoiseach is also due to speak to the CEO of AstraZeneca on Friday evening as frustration grows over the continued lack of vaccine supply from the pharmaceutical company.

Mr Martin said mandatory quarantining would be introduced in the "next week or so" but refused to give a definitive date, adding that contracts with hotels have yet to be signed.

The New York Times has reported that tens of millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are sitting in American manufacturing facilities, awaiting results from its US clinical trials, while countries that have authorised its use beg for access.

However, when asked about this, Mr Martin said "the vaccines don't belong to us".

We will have a discussion about Covid and about vaccines with the president, of course we will have that discussion and the focus will be on the relationship between Europe and the United States because that is a key relationship."

He said the EU and America are both "interdependent, in terms of component parts, in terms of the substance being exported from Europe and so on and visa versa."

Mr Martin said the country would reopen "cautiously" as the Government remains concerned about new variants. He said construction and outdoor activities would be the main areas of focus ahead of April 5, but the Government would be waiting until closer to the time to make any final decisions on easing restrictions.

President Joe Biden will speak with Taoiseach Micheál Martin on St Patrick's Day. Picture: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

The Taoiseach confirmed he had spoken to the CEO of Johnson & Johnson on Friday and is due to talk to the head of AstraZeneca later on Friday evening.

"Ireland stands ready, given our old pharmaceutical footprint here to help in any way we can to improve capacity and production of vaccines, in any way we can," he told RTÉ's Six One News.

There is a worldwide supply issue and so all of the efforts and focus has to be on how can we increase capacity to produce more vaccines more quickly – get them tested more quickly, get the quality assurance done more quickly, make sure all the components are being supplied across the globe and that the international supply chain is protected."

He said he was now worried that "protectionism could now take route" as countries try to get a hold of their own supplies, adding that "that is a danger".

Mr Martin said the lack of supply coming from AstraZeneca poses a "significant challenge".

The Taoiseach spoke with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen earlier on Friday, who he said was "extremely frustrated in terms of the inability of AstraZeneca to meet its contractual requirements".