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CABINET HAS APPROVED an advance purchase agreement of 875,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Moderna.
Health Minsiter Stephen Donnelly brought a memo to Cabinet on Ireland signing up to the Covid-19 vaccine today.
The government also agreed to the indemnification of the company and the transfer of responsibility for claims management to the State Claims Agency.
The Taoiseach said the State had signed up to six advance purchase agreements now – Moderna, AstraZeneca, Jansen, Sanofi, CureVac and Pfizer.
Micheál Martin said Ireland “will receive vaccine doses subject to market approval granted by the regulatory authorities on a population per rata basis of 1.11% of the total European Union delivery”.
He said the State’s vaccine task force has met twice already and discussed the complex logistical challenges, including storage and transport requirements.
“It’s clear that a roll out of the vaccine would require very careful and detailed planning,” said the Taoiseach.
He added that communications will be key in terms of promoting the vaccine. The Taoiseach said historically, vaccines have helped eradicate many killer diseases.
“In that context, the government, working with the authorities, will obviously be promoting strongly the take up of the Covid–19 vaccine,” he said.
The Taoiseach also said the Defence Forces will be helping with the vaccination programme “from a logistics perspective”.
A government spokesperson added that the army could have a role to play in helping out with staffing of the inoculation plan.
In terms of the indemnification, a government spokesperson said it is “the standard”, though it is not yet known if the same indemnification covers the other vaccines.
The latest vaccine to be signed up to, Moderna, has said it will apply for US and European emergency authorisation of its vaccine, based on full results from a late-stage study showing its vaccine was 94.1% effective with no serious safety concerns.
Moderna said the analysis of the phase three COVE study of the vaccine candidate, involving 30,000 participants, included 196 cases of Covid-19, of which 30 cases were severe.
Vaccine efficacy against the disease was 94.1% and vaccine efficacy against severe Covid-19 was 100%, the company reported.
It added that the jab is generally well tolerated with no serious safety concerns identified to date.
The Cabinet was also updated on the progress to date of the Government’s new taskforce on the delivery of vaccines, which met again yesterday.
Professor Brian MacCraith, who heads up the task force, said over the weekend that inoculations could start to be distributed by January.
The health minister has said that December is “unlikely” to be the month that vaccinations begin, but said he wants vaccinations to start “as soon as possible” depending on “which of the vaccines come to market first”.
Moderna vaccine
In relation to the Moderna vaccine, the company reports that efficacy was consistent across age, race and ethnicity, and gender demographics.
The 196 coronavirus cases included 33 adults aged 65 and over, and 42 participants identifying as being from diverse communities.
Based on prior analysis, the most common adverse reactions included injection site pain, fatigue, myalgia (muscle pain), arthralgia (joint pain), headache, and redness at the injection site. But these were generally short-lived, said the company.
The company said these solicited adverse reactions increased in frequency and severity in the vaccinated group after the second dose.
A Mail On Sunday/Ireland Thinks poll over the weekend found that 70% of people in Ireland would take a vaccine.
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris has said there will need to be bipartisan efforts to support vaccination when one or more are approved by authorities.
Tech University for South East
On a separate matter, Harris will today update Cabinet on the progress on establishing Technological Universities across the country, in particular, progress on the delivery of a TU for the South East.
The South East is the only region in the State which does not have a university presence.
A detailed project plan covering all aspects of the project was completed in October, with the department now monitoring the progression of the plan on a monthly basis.
Harris is expected to inform government today that an application will be made by end April 2021 with a view to the TU being established, if successful, during the 2021/2022 academic year.
The minister will also confirm Munster TU will be established on 1 January 2021 next and an application for the Connacht Ulster Alliance will be made in January 2021.
Harris will also confirm a €90 million TU Transformation Fund will be distributed over the next three years by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to support TU development.
With reporting by Press Association
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People who say these vaccines are “rushed” don’t understand vaccines. Vaccines only take a lot of time because of funding issues. A LOT of time is spent applying for funding and then waiting. And then re-applying. Etc. When you’ve got a virus like this that causes a lot of deaths and shuts down economies, the funding process becomes much quicker.
@This Interests Me: The government are the ones that shut down the economy based on computer projections and have inflated COVID death figures purposely by adding WITH COVID to the death count. (This fact is undeniable, they don’t even hide it.) The pcr tests have been proven to give high false positives at above 32 cycles. What people mean when they say a vaccine is rushed is that the safety studies have not been done, it takes years. Currently this vaccine is unproven to protect against COVID and you expect people to line up to take it. From the Pfizer study, “The study also will evaluate the potential for the vaccine candidate to provide protection against COVID-19 in those who have had prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2, as well as vaccine prevention against severe COVID-19 disease.”
@Vinegar Feet: You’re using the original post as a platform for you to broadcast your own views. You initially cloak your post as a direct response. It is clear you have other things to get off your chest. I find it quite funny that some of the alternative views on COVID are just blurted out wherever possible.
@This Interests Me: no they are rushed, listening to Prof on Claire Byrne last night, no date no trials made public
@Vinegar Feet: You’re wrong on so many levels. Firstly, many of these vaccines are offshoots of earlier vaccines that were researched after the SARS outbreak back in 2002. They didn’t just start from scratch. They’ve been building on existing research. Coronaviruses existed before 2020 and everyone reading this comment has had one at some point in time (common cold, etc). Secondly, you completely ignored by point about how these vaccines were not “rushed”. The only thing that was “rushed” was funding. Thirdly, you completely misinterpreted those words you just quoted. It had 90% success for those with no PRIOR exposure. This is the vast majority of people.
@This Interests Me: No it’s you that are wrong. This type of vaccine, a RNA vaccine has never been used before on the public therefore there cannot be any long term studies. Post me link to any scientific studies to previous RNA vaccines used on the public. People have every right to be hesitant about getting this vaccine as it’s yet unproven. Their own studies say it’s unproven and yet to be tested on prevention of covid which anyone can read here. https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-conclude-phase-3-study-covid-19-vaccine
@EnKy: People like this believe that if they repeat it enough times, it’ll come true. The Dorothy Effect, if you will.
@This Interests Me:
Alongside the provenance of this vaccine, there is also the question of the background of the company in vaccine production to be considered.
How long has it been in operation, how extensive are its research facilities, how many vaccines has it produced in the past, how successful were those vaccines, who are the scientists on its payroll, what is their background and expertise, how successful have they been in the past in vaccine production either with Moderna or any other pharmaceutical company?
The other companies involved in the development of a Covid vaccine, Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Johnson & Johnson for example, have long corporate and pharmaceutical histories, but Moderna seems to be a bit of a mystery.
Who are they?
@Séamus Heffernan: that’s quite uninteresting.
@Vinegar Feet: What I got from that tripe is that you’re an anti-vax, anti-science conspiracy theorist.
@Burt: A bit like yourself in general so?
How much will be wasted due to low appetite for a rushed to market product with little to no knowledge of long-term side effects?
@D’oh: You will find that a lot of the older generation won’t take it at all as they won’t trust it.
@D’oh: 70% willingness to take a vaccine is not a low appetite. What are the potential long term side effects for something that is taken once (twice for some vaccines)? You shouldn’t mix up long term usage and long term side effects. So they will know how people who took the vaccine 3 months ago are now. Whatever the risks, and nothing is risk free, the virus us far worse.
@David Corrigan: My mother is 90 and says she’ll be first in the queue for vaccination.
@David Corrigan: Wrong , the older generation are used to vaccines and will trust them more than the younger generation.
@Misty Eyed Mutton: but will it end up long term usage?
Only last week we were told a vaccine might only last 2-6months and would need constant boosters
@David Corrigan: myself, I’ll hold out to see what uptake and long term side effects will be from these vaccines. After recent discussion with a GP and how data is checked after years of study, the GP in Question said he would not be in front of the queue to take it. Which I made the point that front line workers in the health service have a very low uptake of the flu vaccine.
So looking at the discussion on here wither to take it or not when it does become available at the end of the day will be a personal choice. Information and data sheets will continue to argued about. So for the time being for me it’s a mask, washing hands and distancing until I am certain the vaccine is safe to take.
@Dave Barrett: indeed, the reality is none of these are even peer reviewed but we have signed multi million pound contracts. all for the greater good but there’s lots of questions to be answered
Roll up roll up. It’s all about money
@Damo: nearly there, just replace money with lives and then you’ve got it. Nice effort though champ
@Richy: keep going virtue signaling chump
@Damo: Keep going, boring conspiracy tool.
@Damo: if virtue signalling saves lives then so be it. Oh look i did it again.
@Richy: sorry i didnt mean it
‘Minister for Health confirms the State has idemnified drug companies from any liabilities arising from complications with the vaccines’
Not widely reported unsurprisingly but hardly fills me with confidence
He is an interesting link about Moderna, that everyone including the government should read…
https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/13/moderna-therapeutics-biotech-mrna/
What’s 20 quid a dose between friends when you’re already 30 billion in a hole
On the basis that governments are indemnify Pharmaceutical companies for “covid19″ vaccines an unscrupulous company could produce any old snake oil and put it out there as a vaccine, to boost their stock price regardless of its efficacy or risks.
Can we have a journalistic report for once about the data on the 5.9% of effective and safe vaccines please? I hear the percentages all the time of efficacy and it’s great to see global pharma companies & scientists coming together like this to get studies off the ground & into a phase where it’s been 94.1% safe and effective. But I am curious as to how the other 5.9% who participated in a human trial have responded to the vaccine so far. In order to make an informed choice, people need to be made aware of ALL of the side effects, in this case, a new vaccine. If we had data on both sides of efficacy, then informed choices can be made and could be established. By not reporting it, it’s not supporting people enough to have agency with the whole idea of a safe vaccination program.
@Rb1kan: the 5.9% are those that got the vax but still became infected – not effective
Is it the cheapest?… you know it is.
Good news, at least preparing it
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