Many doctors fear that the lack of Covid-19 vaccines for people over 70 will cause confusion as the supply will not meet the high demand among seniors.
“GPs fear that the vaccine shortage will cause chaos. It could generate many tensions between patients and doctors, “he added.
“Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has to be frank with people and tell them they will get vaccinated, but it will take longer.”
It is also essential that GPs obtain instructions on how patients should be selected for the vaccine.
“There will need to be guidelines on the order of priority,” added Dr. Egan.
The first ads informing those over 85 that “Covid-19 vaccines are on the way” appeared in the newspapers yesterday telling people that “your GP will notify you” when a vaccine is available and everyone will receive one when ” it’s your turn ”.
Supplies of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, the first of which will arrive next week, are expected to only amount to 285,000 doses in February and March, down from 600,000 expected.
But TThere was hope last night that the number of doses arriving here could be increased after the EU announced that AstraZeneca agreed to deliver an additional nine million in the first quarter of the year. This could mean more than 90,000 additional doses for Ireland.
There are also hopes of an increase in deliveries for Pfizer BioNTech, although large numbers of healthcare workers have yet to be vaccinated.
All people who receive the vaccine need two doses and the National Immunization Advisory Committee will decide the interval, which can vary from four to 12 weeks. The AstraZeneca vaccine is 60% effective in people under 55 years of age and there is a lack of data on the response of older people due to the smaller number of participants in the trials.
However, it was cleared by the European Medicines Agency for people over 18 and said it expects protection for older age groups, although it is unclear what level that will be.
Meanwhile, Co Louth GP Dr Ruairi Hanley said the plan is for GPs to provide rapid vaccination clinics for the entire older population as more supplies of the vaccine become available.
“GP surgeries may simply not be feasible in some parts of the country. The truth is that there is a GP staffing crisis in rural Ireland due to the unwillingness of many younger colleagues to practice medicine beyond the M50.
“While I have no doubt that South Dublin would have no shortage of vaccinators, older people in rural Ireland may not be so lucky,” said Dr Hanley.
“Delays can be unavoidable, as doctors and nurses can only work a limited number of hours, given their existing practice commitments,” he added.
He asked HSE to organize vaccination centers where Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines would be offered “instead of waiting for GPs to save the day.”
There are 500,000 people over the age of 70 in the country, including 81,000 over the age of 85 and 90,000 between the ages of 80 and 84.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said deployment to those over 70 will begin this month, and every effort will be made to run the program “as quickly and safely as possible.”
Ireland expects to have a total of 1.1 million doses of vaccines between January and March.
As of Wednesday, 161,500 doses were administered, of which 71,600 were first doses, to residents and staff at long-term care facilities.