Ireland became the latest country to stop using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, temporarily suspending the shot “out of an abundance of caution” after reports from Norway of serious blood clotting in some recipients there.
Denmark, Norway and Iceland have suspended the use of the vaccine over clotting issues, while Thailand became the first country outside of Europe to do so on Friday, delaying its AstraZeneca rollout over the safety concerns in Europe
Ireland, which took in 11.8 billion euros in corporate tax last year, has been accused by rivals of unfairly using tax policy to attract multinationals, which employ around 10% of the Irish workforce.
A deal could reduce Ireland's corporate tax take by between 800 million and 2 billion euros.
The first 4.2 billion of the 5.4 billion euro fund is due to be distributed this year and Ireland will receive 25%, subject to approval by EU heads of state and the European Parliament, Coveney said in a Twitter post.