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The head of a Dublin hospital apologized after it emerged that the Covid-19 vaccines were administered to family members of staff members, including their children.
The Irish Times reports that the director of the Coombe maternity hospital, Professor Michael O’Connell, said he regrets “deeply” that family members were given the vaccine with the remaining doses.
The Minister of Health has said that the State’s vaccine allocation strategy “does not include the families of health workers.” Frontline healthcare workers are being prioritized for the hit under the plan, along with nursing home residents and staff.
Doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered to 16 family members of Coombe hospital staff on Friday, January 8 after more than 1,100 doses were administered to front-line staff, GPs, and healthcare workers from the local community.
Two of those vaccinated are understood to be the sons of Professor O’Connell.
It is understood that one is of college age and a paid part-time worker in his private medical practice, while the other works intermittently in the hospital as an unpaid worker.
Waste
Professor O’Connell, a consulting obstetrician and gynecologist, said in a statement that the vaccines were administered to ensure no doses that had already been “prepared” were wasted.
“If they hadn’t been used, they would have been discarded. I was very aware of that and throughout the night and from 9.30pm onward, I personally did my best to prioritize and identify additional frontline workers and followed all the measures available to me at the time, ”he said.
“In retrospect, as a Teacher, I deeply regret that the employees’ families have been vaccinated and for that I sincerely apologize.
The hospital said that among the 16 family members who received the vaccine, nine were over 70 years old and the remaining seven were “of different ages.” It would not identify the individuals.
It added that it was able to produce more than 120 additional vaccines, beyond schedule, from its supply of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine vials on Jan.8.
The hospital said it had not been possible to pre-book the vaccines and be sure of the doses required at that time because the HSE’s vaccine reservation system was not activated until the day after the doses were administered.
What happened shouldn’t have happened
“The hospital team proactively contacted HSE to inform them of the additional doses available and actively sought out front-line workers to vaccinate,” he said.
El Coombe added that he followed the government’s guidelines that day and focused on the two current priority groups.
A staff member said: “It is a shame that the hospital director has arranged for his children to receive the vaccine.”
The health minister has said that he first learned of the incident on Sunday night and would seek a full account of what happened from the president of the hospital board.
“Confidence in the vaccine program is vitally important and what happened should not have happened,” said Stephen Donnelly.
“Our vaccine allocation strategy clearly sets a priority list for vaccination, and that is currently for front-line healthcare workers and residents and staff at our long-term resident care facilities.
“It does not include the families of health workers.”
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