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Ireland’s COVID-19 Vaccination Programme strategy is to distribute all available vaccines as quickly as is operationally possible, prioritising those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19.

The following is an update on the total number of vaccines delivered to Ireland.

As of 7 March, 525,768 doses have been administered to residents and staff at long-term residential care facilities, to frontline healthcare workers and to people aged over 70 years.

Ireland’s programme is only limited by supply, and the rollout plans must be flexible to accommodate unforeseen events, such as changes to supplies from manufacturers.  Certain manufacturers have guided on maintaining a buffer of vaccines in order to ensure the availability of a second dose.

Currently, 95% of available vaccines are being administered within seven days of arrival in the country.

Ireland is committed to the European Commission’s Advance Purchase Agreement process and is consistently ordering its full pro-rata allocation of vaccines available. Ireland has also purchased vaccines via all additional options in the EU process. Ireland has contracts in place for more than 18 million vaccine doses, sufficient to fully vaccinate 10 million people, subject to regulatory approvals and manufacturers’ delivery commitments being achieved. The Department of Health continues to be fully engaged with the EU and our partners to ensure the equitable and timely supply of vaccines available to the EU. 

The Taskforce and the Department have been alerted to various offers around the procurement of vaccines outside of the Advance Purchase Agreements, from non-government suppliers.  These mainly relate to Astra Zeneca, and the company has confirmed it is focused on global commitments to governments and international health organisations. It has advised the Department of Health that there is currently no private sector supply, sale or distribution of its vaccine.  It has cautioned that if someone offers private vaccines, they are likely to be counterfeit.