Coronavirus: Two vaccine doses given before any surplus offered, says Arlene Foster

The UK population will get their second Covid vaccine dose before any vaccinations are provided to the Republic of Ireland, Arlene Foster has said.

The first minister denied this could mean it would be the autumn before any surplus supplies are offered.

The Sunday Times reported the UK was preparing to offer 3.7 million vaccines to the Republic of Ireland.

Mrs Foster said an offer could be a "runner".

"It does have an impact on the efficacy of our vaccine in Northern Ireland if people are moving about from the Republic of Ireland in Northern Ireland who are not vaccinated and I think that should be of concern," Mrs Foster told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme on Monday.

"It certainly is something that I will be keeping a very close eye on."

Mrs Foster had recommended the plan to Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his visit to Northern Ireland this month.

She said she would be reiterating this to him when they speak in the coming days.

Latest figures show the total number of vaccines administered in Northern Ireland is 855,488.

In its latest figures from Thursday, the Irish health authorities said 760,168 vaccines had been administered, 548,945 of them first doses.

The pace of the vaccine programme in the Republic of Ireland is similar to much of the rest of the EU, which lags considerably behind the UK.

Asked if surplus supplies would be provided after the UK population had been vaccinated with two doses, or just the first, Mrs Foster said: "My thought was on the first of those, so that the population of the UK had received their second dose."

"We are hopeful of receiving the third type of vaccine in the next couple of weeks, the Moderna vaccine. The UK has taken options in all seven vaccines that have been developed so obviously those vaccines are going to come online in the near future.

"It's because of the forward planning that the UK put in place that we had options, that we should have surplus vaccines in the future."

Health Minister Robin Swann said providing any surplus would be a "UK gesture" as supposed to a Northern Ireland one.

But he said that if supply allowed, a vaccine offer could be made to Dublin before Northern Ireland's vaccination programme was completed.

"The two could run concurrently if the supply allowed us to do that," Mr Swann told BBC's Evening Extra programme.

"It makes sense to look after your neighbour as well as yourself."

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Monday that Boris Johnson made it clear to him six weeks ago that he would have to "vaccinate his people first" before any surplus supplies would be provided.

"There's been no offer at this particular point," Mr Martin added.

Mrs Foster said she has been asking medical advisors as to when the vaccination gap between Northern Ireland and the Republic will become "an issue".

"We have over 50% of our adult population that has received their first dose of the vaccine so we will get to a critical point when it will make a difference, so we will then have to make decisions if that gap has not be plugged at that time," she said.

Mrs Foster said she hopes to avoid cross border restrictions.

During a tour of the SSE Arena vaccination centre in Belfast on Monday, along with Mrs Foster and Mr Swann, Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said sharing the vaccine was the right thing to do.

"It's the good thing to do. We are all in this together and we need to work together to protect our people, we all have the same interests," Ms O'Neill said.

"I'd like to see a lot more co-operation as we come out of this period that we're in now and even into the future."

In response to the Sunday Times article, the UK government said it would consider distributing a surplus of vaccine "as they become available".

BBC News NI understands the UK government expects to have surplus supplies later this year.

However, that will depend on supply chain reliability and whether new vaccines are needed to deal with variants or be used for booster jabs in the autumn.

Donegal GP Dr Denis McCauley said the Republic's vaccine roll-out was much less "developed" than the programme in Northern Ireland.

He said higher infection rates in the border counties would affect how quickly Northern Ireland could reopen.

Speaking to Good Morning Ulster, he said: "We are efficient at giving vaccines when we get them but we have a supply issue. I think NI is affected, their health policy will be affected by having a country with a higher incidence very close to them so I think it's in everybody's interests that we have alignment and co-operation in all health policy to do with this Covid crisis.

"I think we're not that far behind and I think that if the first minister has some vaccines and she wants to give them, we will gladly take them because our biggest issue is actually supply."

He added that Donegal would be an "ideal" test county for surplus vaccines.

Mrs Foster received her first Covid-19 vaccine in County Fermanagh on Saturday.

This month Health Minister Robin Swann said every adult in Northern Ireland would still get their first vaccine dose by the end of July.

The programme in Northern Ireland expanded on Monday with the opening of the SSE Arena in Belfast as a vaccination centre.