Ireland is in line for around 110,000 extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine over the next three months.

The European Commission has said it will receive 10 million extra doses after it agreed an ‘accelerated delivery’ of the jab with the pharmaceutical giant.

The extra jabs will be drawn from the consignment that was due to be delivered in the third quarter of the year.

"Very good news"

The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “I know how critical Quarter Two is for the roll-out of our vaccination strategies in the Member States.

“These accelerated 10 million doses will bring the total doses of BioNTech-Pfizer in Quarter Two up to over 200 million.

“This is very good news. It gives Member States room to manoeuvre and possibly fill gaps in deliveries.”

The Government already expected to receive more than two million Pfizer doses over the next three months and it is hoped the extra delivery will speed up Ireland’s lockdown exit.

AstraZeneca

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are both meeting today to discuss concerns over the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Ireland is one of 16 countries that has suspended the use of AstraZeneca amid reports of blood clotting in a small number of people who have received it.

The EMA has already noted that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh any risk.

It is hoped the agency will give the vaccine the all-clear tomorrow.

Ireland is currently due to receive nearly 820,000 AstraZeneca doses over the next three months.