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Report: UK and Irish administrations should make coordinated preparations for next pandemic

Added 25-Oct-2022

25 October 2022

REPORT: vaccine rollouts in bipa jurisdictions

UK and Irish administrations should make coordinated preparations for next pandemic

Report: Vaccine rollouts in BIPA jurisdictions

There should be coordinated efforts for the UK and Ireland to improve resilience in preparation for the next pandemic, according to a report by a Committee of British and Irish lawmakers.

The British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly’s European Affairs Committee’s said that jurisdictions should work together to ensure the availability of PPE and vaccines after raising concerns that supply chains could be affected by changes in security relationships.

The report examined the lessons learned from the vaccine rollout in the UK, Ireland and the European Union during the covid-19 pandemic.

With covid vaccinations expected to continue for the foreseeable future, the Committee found that the UK and Ireland had a consistent approach to vaccination but called for more consistency in covid-19 reporting vaccination data across jurisdictions. This should be expanded to include a standardised measurement and publication of death rates, the report said, adding that both measures improve accountability in the future.

Committee Chair Darren Millar MS said, “Although we’re pleased to see that there is a consistent approach to future vaccination across Ireland and the UK, improvements can be made to improve the response to any future pandemic.

Given the shared and open border on the island of Ireland, preparation – not just response – must be more coordinated. The stockpiling of PPE and vaccines should be seen as critical to our joint security, improving resilience, and reducing reliance on supply chains that could come under stress.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

· You will find a full copy of the report attached to this email.

For more on the membership of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly Committee B (European Affairs), click here here.

For more on BIPA, see here.