Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Covid-19 Pandemic

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 July 2021

Tuesday, 6 July 2021

Ceisteanna (506)

Paul Murphy

Ceist:

506. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health the requirements regarding mandatory hotel quarantine for Irish citizens returning to Ireland from Bahrain in summer 2021 who have been working and have been fully vaccinated there with a vaccine (details supplied) which has been WHO approved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29700/21]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Mandatory hotel quarantine has been introduced as one element of Ireland’s public health measures to combat the transmission of COVID-19 variants of concern.

The Health Act 1947, as amended, provides that all persons arriving in Ireland from a designated state, or having travelled through a designated state in the previous 14 days, are required to undergo mandatory quarantine in a designated facility unless they are an exempted traveller under the Act. All applicable travellers must reserve and pay for a place in mandatory hotel quarantine.

Mandatory hotel quarantine is also necessary in circumstances where passengers coming from non-designated states do not provide evidence that they have a negative or ‘not detected’ result from a COVID-19 Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test carried out no more than 72 hours before arrival into Ireland.

As of 17th April, passengers who are fully vaccinated and have the documents to confirm this are no longer required to complete mandatory hotel quarantine on arrival in Ireland. Dependents, including children, will also be exempted from the requirement to complete mandatory hotel quarantine in this instance.

Please note that the 4 EMA approved vaccines currently accepted have specific definitions for when a person would be considered fully vaccinated.

The following table sets out the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’;

Type of Vaccine

You are regarded as fully vaccinated after

Pfizer-BioNtech

7 days after 2nd dose

Moderna

14 days after 2nd dose

Oxford-AstraZeneca

15 days after 2nd dose

Johnson & Johnson/Janssen

14 days after single dose

Fully vaccinated travellers are still required to have a negative pre-departure RT-PCR test and complete a period of self-quarantine at home or wherever specified in their passenger locator form.

Ireland supports the EU Procurement Process, the purpose of which is to secure safe and efficacious vaccines for EU citizens.

Covid 19 vaccines can only be approved and used if they comply with all the requirements of quality, safety and efficacy set out in the EU pharmaceutical legislation. No vaccine will be used until Market Authorisation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is obtained and any authorised vaccine will be subject to ongoing monitoring in Ireland by the Health Product Regulatory Authority (HPRA).

The delivery of vaccines under APAs that the Commission has negotiated on behalf of Member States are predicated upon a CMA being obtained from the Commission (on the basis of a positive recommendation being awarded by the EMA).

The awarding of a CMA provides a high level of assurance that a vaccine has undergone rigorous testing and has met the requirements of the independent regulatory process as regards demonstrating its safety and efficacy.

The Sinopharm vaccine has not been awarded a CMA to date.

Barr
Roinn