Stephen Donnelly Under Pressure Again From party Colleagues Over Vaccine Roll Out

The Health Minister has said there's "no mountain" of vaccine supply out there that Ireland can tap into.

It comes as the European Medicines Agency is expected to approve the use of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine later today.
At the parliamentary party meetings of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil last night a number of government TDs criticised the procurement process for COVID vaccines.  Finance Committee Chairman John McGuinness told the Taoiseach he has contacts on Capitol Hill who are telling him vaccines can be sourced in other places. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly replied, saying there is no mountain of available vaccine supply out there, while Junior Minister for European Affairs Thomas Byrne said Russia has vaccinated very little of its population, despite selling the Sputnik vaccine elsewhere. At the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the government doesn't have control over the supply or manufacturing of vaccine doses, and that all countries would need their own supply of vaccines for several months yet.