The first batch of the Government's emergency order of the anthrax antibiotic has arrived and the full 2.4 million doses should be delivered by early next month. Smallpox vaccine has also been ordered and 300,000 doses are expected here within a week.
Ireland was one of the first countries in Europe to order extra supplies of Ciprofloxacin, the drug that treats anthrax, according to Dr Joan Gilvarry, medical director of the Irish Medicines Board.
The manufacturer, Bayer, is producing the antibiotic around the clock to deal with the demand from other European countries, she said, "but we got in early".
The 150,000 doses of Ciprofloxacin that arrived on Thursday and the rest of the stockpiled treatments will be held at the central supplies department of the Eastern Regional Health Authority and distributed as necessary.
Sourcing smallpox vaccine was a "major achievement", she added. The virus was eliminated worldwide in 1977 and until the current scare, the vaccine was no longer being manufactured.
Dr Gilvarry ordered a supply of 300,000 doses, which would be delivered within the next few days. She declined to disclose the source of the supply.
Dr Gilvarry is a member of the expert committee set up by the Minister for Health in the wake of the September 11th attacks. "We started very early and what can be done has been done," she said.
