Vaccine rollout for frontline workers
Deputy Collins and Deputy Nolan raised delays in vaccinating GPs, nurses, home helps and vulnerable adults with underlying conditions. The Tánaiste said many GPs and nurses had already been vaccinated or would be by end-March, AstraZeneca could be prioritised for them, and he would check the category for home helps.
The roll-out of the vaccine is a great concern for so many working on the front line. Carers and older people must be offered the vaccine and foremost in the process should be our GPs, nurses and home help personnel. I have spoken to GPs and nurses in west Cork in the past couple of days who have not yet been offered the vaccine, despite us being told it has been offered throughout the country.
It is right that medical professionals like doctors and nurses in Dublin were the first to be vaccinated but their counterparts in west Cork have been left behind. I have asked the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, this question over the past few weeks and failed to get an answer. When will our GPs, nurses and home help staff be offered the vaccine in west Cork?
Comment on this
I will be brief but this is the same matter of the vaccine roll-out. I was contacted by the concerned parent of a vulnerable adult with cystic fibrosis who was almost hospitalised last week with a seizure.
This parent is most concerned that vulnerable adults, and particularly those with underlying conditions such as cystic fibrosis, receive the vaccine as soon as possible. What is the plan for those adults who need the vaccine?
Comment on this
I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter. Many GPs and nurses have already received the vaccine. Some have already received two doses, and all will by the end of March 2021. We will now be able to prioritise the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for healthcare workers such as GPs and nurses. I think home helps are in a different category. They may well be in category 6, but I will have to double check. I did hear that Bantry Hospital had very successfully provided the vaccine to its staff. It is not all bad in west Cork. I am glad to see that Bantry Hospital was able to vaccinate its staff in the last few weeks.
The issue of cystic fibrosis has been raised on a number of occasions. We will take it up with the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC. The decision by which people are prioritised into 15 different groups is made based on medical and scientific advice. We have raised with NIAC the issue of whether people who are aged under 70 or 65 and have chronic conditions such as cystic fibrosis, or are transplant patients, for example, should be prioritised and put into a different group. We await further advice on that.