Ireland's EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has said the Commission is hopeful that the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine will be approved, and that 200 million doses have been ordered for EU states, meaning Ireland should receive 2.2 million doses.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Philip Boucher Hayes programme, Ms McGuinness said advance purchase agreements will allow companies ramp up production, adding that 300 million new vaccines from Moderna are also on order.
She said the EU will have more vaccines than it will need, adding this is good because they will be able to provide vaccinations globally rather than "just vaccinating ourselves" and sitting back and saying "we're fine now".
Ms McGuinness said everyone would like things to happen faster, but defended the timescale and what has been achieved by the EU.
She said that haste is a dangerous word and the Commission, in consultation with member states, reached a joint agreement on the approach to vaccines.
The Commissioner said there was a possibility for emergency authorisations of vaccines but, had this happened, people might have asked why the Commission was rushing things.
She said there is now enough data to say where a jab has to be changed because of a mutation, and that it will be much easier to deal with mutations when they arise.
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Ms McGuinness said she believes the next two months will show the "fruits" of the work undertaken by the Commission to procure vaccines for member states, and said that the EU can meet its vaccination targets.
"The President of the Commission has been steadfast in saying there are difficulties now, and there will continue to be bumps on the road and rolling out production, making sure we get access, but when we look back maybe in a month or two, we will see the fruits of that work," she said.
Ms McGuinness said the public health structures that have been built during the pandemic and vaccine procurement will help support member states into the future.
"The European Union doesn't have normally public health competences. We have now, because we've decided that if you didn't do this work together, there will be serious consequences. So a lot of the structures are actually being built as we travel on this journey," the Commissioner said.
She said all members of the Commission would like the roll-out to work faster, but added that it relies on supply chains.
It would have been a battle of the "big versus the small", she said, had the Commission not coordinated the procurement of vaccines for all member states.
"It would have been then, in my view, the big versus the small, so those who have deep pockets would work to get all of the vaccines and look after their population which is the normal instinct.
"But if we do it at the EU level we can give access to vaccines across the member states."
She said the European Commission was "working in the unknown" during negotiations last year, and that member states were "fully involved" in negotiations with vaccine suppliers.
She said the time taken to negotiate on price should "be taken in the round", and viewed in respect to events of the coming months.
"The commission worked closely with the member states and the member states were fully involved in all of the negotiations with the companies we would work with and also on the civil liability issue.
"So we took a different decision [to other countries] and in my view, I would rather look in the round as to what would happen within two months."
