Foreign vaccines and quarantine
Deputy Devlin raised the case of Irish citizens abroad who received WHO-approved vaccines such as Sinopharm but still face hotel quarantine on return. The Tánaiste said only EMA-approved vaccines were currently recognised, but the Government was considering whether to include other vaccines.
As the House will not be sitting tomorrow, I would like the Dáil to recall the late Detective Garda Colm Horkan, who died while on duty in Roscommon on 18 June 2020.
Irish citizens living abroad who received the Sinopharm vaccine, among others, and who are now considered fully vaccinated by the World Health Organization, are facing discrimination by EU and Irish authorities by being compelled to enter mandatory hotel quarantining if returning to Ireland from various countries. What does the Government intend to do to vindicate their rights?
Comment on this
Like the Deputy, I have been getting a number of representations from people living in the Middle East and the Gulf area who are caught by this issue. At the moment, we are only recognising people as having been fully vaccinated if they have received a vaccine that is approved by the EMA, but it is open to the Government to recognise other vaccines, including those approved by the WHO. We are giving consideration at the moment to whether we can include Sinopharm, Sputnik and other vaccines in that regard but, unfortunately, I do not have a date for a decision as yet.