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The Government has played down any prospect of an imminent delivery of excess Covid-19 vaccines from the UK.<\/p>\nThe Government has played down any prospect of an imminent delivery of excess Covid-19 vaccines from the UK.<\/p>\n
Government said it was not aware of any specific offer from London.<\/p>\n
The comments came in response to a Sunday newspaper report that UK ministers were working up plans to share 3.7 million doses with the Republic.<\/p>\n
UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden also made clear on Sunday that the UK does not \u201ccurrently have a surplus\u201d of vaccines, insisting his government\u2019s first priority was vaccinating its own population.<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland\u2019s First Minister Arlene Foster has insisted the proposal is a \u201crunner\u201d and has pledged to continue to lobby Prime Minister Boris Johnson to prioritize Ireland when it comes to distributing spare vaccines.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the Sunday Times report about a UK plan to share millions of doses with Ireland, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said: \u201cThere isn\u2019t an offer that I\u2019m aware of, or that the Government\u2019s aware of, from the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, if there was we\u2019d be very interested in talking to the British Government about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Coveney told RT\u00c9: \u201cLet\u2019s look at the actual numbers here in terms of what\u2019s likely and when.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently, 55 per cent of UK adults have received their first jab, less than six per cent of adults in the UK have received their second jab, so there are tens of millions of people still to get their first jab in the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere may well be excess vaccines at some point in the future but I don\u2019t think we\u2019re realistically looking at that for many, many weeks yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs Foster has raised the proposal with Mr Johnson in recent conversations.<\/p>\n
She has expressed confidence it \u201chopefully will happen\u201d.<\/p>\n
Also interviewed by RT\u00c9, she said sharing excess supply with the Republic was important in respect of being good neighbors but also because it would have a practical impact in Northern Ireland in terms of the region\u2019s exit from lockdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is a runner,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I\u2019m next speaking to him (Mr Johnson) I\u2019ll be making that point again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important that we continue the conversation and I\u2019ll be listening very carefully to what our medical advisers are saying about the rollout of the vaccine in Northern Ireland, where it is in the Republic of Ireland and what that means for both jurisdictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DUP leader added: \u201cI think it\u2019s the right thing that should happen, I think it\u2019s a very practical thing to do and I think it should happen and hopefully it will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Dowden told Sky\u2019s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: \u201cClearly, our first priority is ensuring we deliver vaccines in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe clearly don\u2019t currently have a surplus of vaccines \u2013 should we get to the point where we have a surplus of vaccines we\u2019d make decisions on the allocation of that surplus.\u201d<\/p>\n