STORMONT’S LEADERS HAVE both signalled a willingness for vaccines to be shared with the Republic of Ireland. 

Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill were asked about the issue as the number of people receiving their first Covid-19 vaccine doses in Northern Ireland continue to significantly exceed those in the Republic.

Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated a willingness to help Ireland with vaccines, but only after the rollout was complete within the UK.

At a post-Executive press conference in Dungannon, Foster and O’Neill were asked about the prospect of sharing vaccines if there continued to be a disparity in vaccination rates on both sides of the border.

Foster said: “I think that the Prime Minister has said that once the UK citizens are vaccinated that he is content to have that conversation.

“I think we need to have that conversation because if we’re vaccinated in Northern Ireland and there’s still a cohort of people in the Republic of Ireland not vaccinated and people are moving about and coming up to Northern Ireland then that has an impact on us here in Northern Ireland because of the effectiveness of the vaccine working.

“So we need to have that conversation and I asked our chief medical officer [Dr Michael McBride] today about the efficacy of the vaccine if people were to come into contact with others who hadn’t been recipients of the vaccine and he said that was something that would be concerning, so we’ll continue to have those conversations, I think it’s very important that we do.”

O’Neill said: “We need to maximise the opportunities that we have as an island in terms of the pandemic.

“I think we could have made a lot more of that throughout the pandemic.

“I think nobody should be greedy whenever it comes to vaccines, we’re facing a global pandemic, all people across the world are faced with the impact of the pandemic so, yes, we should be sharing and, yes, we should be working together.

“That’s the only way in which we’re going to find our way out of this current phase that we’re all in.”

A government spokesperson confirmed to TheJournal.ie yesterday that government officials have been in touch with other EU countries, as well as pharmaceutical companies abroad and at home, about securing extra supplies. 

He confirmed that Irish officials have had discussions with Germany, Latvia, Denmark as well as the UK on securing additional supplies, however, each country have said as of now there are no spare doses.