Ireland is suffering the consequences of putting “all our eggs in the European basket” when it comes to the coronavirus vaccine, according to a Fianna Fáil TD.

Sligo-Leitrim TD Marc MacSharry has been an outspoken critic of the Government’s vaccine procurement strategy since the beginning of the year.

Ireland put its faith in the EU Advance Purchase Agreement for vaccines early on and Government officials have suggested the country would have secured even less if it went its own way.

On The Hard Shoulder this evening, he said he rejects those claims.

“Obviously, we put all our eggs into the European basket and have suffered the consequences while other countries who had ordered before us and secured orders before us reap the benefits,” he said.

“We know the success story in the UK and in smaller comparable countries like Serbia and Bahrain are powering ahead.

“So, I reject the view of Ursula von Der Leyen yesterday that small countries would have got nothing if they went alone.”

AstraZeneca

He said the dispute between the EU and AstraZeneca has hurt all member states when other countries are getting supply as promised.

“When I see the success of comparable countries in terms of size, like Serbia for example, I obviously want that for our people,” he said.

“To bring an end to this misery as quickly as possible for all concerned.

“As it stands, we seem to be on an AstraZeneca contract that delivers for the UK but doesn’t for the EU. I don’t know what their contract with Pfizer is but equally, it seems not to be sufficient in terms of timely deliveries for us.”

European Medicines Agency

Deputy MacSharry said Ireland normally relies on its own National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics to regulate medicines and suggested that waiting for the European Medicines Agency to approve vaccines has pushed us further down the queue.

“We seem to have come to the table late in quite a number of areas and I think we are paying the price for that,” he said.

“We handed it to Europe and my personal view is that was a mistake. Yes, the cover story is, ‘oh you wouldn’t have got it because you wouldn’t have had bargaining power' - but maybe the EU approached this like they were purchasing office supplies, played hard ball on price and found themselves down the line.

“The other thing is they, for good or for bad, took longer to assess and make their decisions on vaccines and that allowed other people to put in orders in advance.”

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