The boss of AstraZeneca says Ireland can expect a “large volume” of vaccines in the coming weeks.
In an interview with The Irish Times, the new country president Dan Wygal says the firm's overcoming some manufacturing problems it has encountered.
827,000 AstraZeneca doses were expected in the first quarter based on advance purchase agreements, but just 228,000 have arrived.
Accountable
Mr Wygal declined to apologise but said he feels “highly accountable” to do all he can to improve the situation.
Mr Wygal, who started as the firm's Irish president three weeks ago, said “in the coming weeks we’ll have some of the largest shipments yet sent into Ireland”.
The largest shipment so far, 100,000 doses, will arrive in Ireland next week.
“I’m not in a position to quote on absolute numbers. In the coming weeks, we’ll have some of the largest shipments yet sent into Ireland. That speaks to us driving towards that commitment of stabilising and increasing supply in the coming weeks and months,” said Mr Wygal.
Exciting weeks
“Next week is expected to be a very large week for delivery. We are expecting an exciting next couple of weeks around unit volume here in Ireland.”
A senior HSE official is to oversee the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines at the private Beacon Hospital, following controversy over its adherence to the State’s priority list.
The Irish Times reports that the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has told the health service to appoint an official after 20 teachers and staff from a private school were vaccinated there this week.
It has also emerged that childcare workers were vaccinated against Covid-19 at the private hospital earlier in March.
A HSE spokesman said a senior official would work with the Beacon to ensure that on a day-to-day basis the standards set out by the HSE for the operation of the vaccination programme are maintained.
Separately, the Health Minister told RTÉ’s Six One that the hospital’s vaccination of private school staff was “completely unacceptable” but said preventing it from issuing further vaccines would be “counterproductive”.
Volatile
Meanwhile, the Government is set to be warned by the National Health Emergency Team (Nphet) about the volatile Covid-19 situation on Monday.
This will come ahead of the latest update on Covid-19 restrictions on Tuesday.
Senior public health sources warned that if the Government “does something in April that triggers a wave, they have a disaster on their hands; if they hold off until May or June it is a completely different risk profile”.
