Covid-19 vaccines will be made free to the nation.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly have both committed to covering the cost of the life-saving vaccines when they are rolled out.
And Mr Donnelly also confirmed that the plan is to start vaccinating within weeks, as soon as EU approval that the new drugs are safe comes through.
Mr Martin was speaking at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday night when he confirmed that a free programme is planned.
Mr Donnelly indicated the same at an Oireachtas health committee earlier in the day, but he stopped short of declaring they would be free, because it hasn’t been approved by Cabinet yet.
Mr Donnelly said: “We can’t have any situation where there could be any question of access being a problem because of affordability.”
However, Mr Martin went further at the Fianna Fáil private party meeting under questioning from his own TDs, Senators and MEPs when he said there would be “no cost for the vaccines.”
This will be helpful to the Fianna Fáil elected members who will be reporting back to the party faithful in the coming days.
One TD at the meeting told the Irish Mirror: “Micheál confirmed it will be free, it would not be too smart if he told us we had to go back to our constituencies telling people they’d have to pay for it.”
It is estimated that the cost of the first wave of vaccinations will cost the Exchequer in the region of €200 million.
