Neale Richmond
Question:97. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the funding Ireland has provided to help developing countries access Covid-19 vaccines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23953/21]
View answerTuesday, 11 May 2021
Questions (97)
Written answers
Ireland is fully involved in efforts by the global health community to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for developing countries. The World Health Organisation has established a coordination and oversight mechanism, in the form of the ACT - Accelerator, and is working with other global health bodies on response. COVAX, the vaccine access pillar forms a key part of the ACT-A. Overall, Irish Aid funding to global health will be at least €50 million in 2021. This will support health systems capacity, and efforts to address other killer diseases such as TB and malaria, as well as COVID-19 response. So far this year, Irish Aid allocated €4 million to COVAX, and €1 million to the WHO to support its oversight role, ensuring fairness and transparency. In addition, Irish Embassies in Africa are working with local health Ministries to help them develop their health systems in the face of the pandemic: in Mozambique and Ethiopia, this is done in partnership with the HSE.
The COVAX mechanism is already delivering results. COVAX has secured options on 3.56 billion vaccine doses and has so far shipped over 53 million COVID-19 vaccines to 121 participants. Irish Embassies in partner countries are also working alongside WHO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and others to support the vaccine rollout effort, which is challenging for many countries given weakened health systems capacity.