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Several TDs of Fianna Fáil, including former minister Dara Calleary, have criticized tonight the pace of the launch of the vaccine, particularly for those over 85 years old.
The Taoiseach told a meeting of his parliamentary party that the government will engage with the HSE to ensure proper communication.
This included a proposal to have a hotline to respond to inquiries about the vaccine launch.
Micheál Martin said that the offer is the only limitation and admitted that there were some obstacles in the schedule with AstraZeneca.
He also said that a youth support package is being developed.
Today it was confirmed that the HSE administered 81,843 doses of vaccine last week, 18,157 doses less than the 100,000 it had promised to administer.
However, he said the shortfall was due to the postponement of the delivery of 25,000 AstraZeneca vaccines last week and this week.
He said that he had ensured that the deficit will recover this month.
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The Tánaiste said tonight that the failure to meet the vaccination target last week was beyond the control of the Government.
Speaking at the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting, Leo Varadkar said it was because AstraZeneca’s order was not being followed.
Mr Varadkar also said that Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine will be administered in Ireland in April, if approved by the European Medicines Agency on March 11.
He said he hopes the adult population can be vaccinated before the September target.
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The chairman of the Irish Medical Organization’s GP Committee has said that there is a need to improve communication with physicians in the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine program.
Dr. Denis McAuley said GPs should be informed at least a week before when to expect vaccine deliveries and the numbers requested.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, he said 200 practices are still awaiting delivery of their vaccines.
However, he said he was confident that the vaccination of all those over the age of 85 will be completed by the end of next week.
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Last Sunday there was the lowest number of vaccines administered on a single day during the week, with 2,427 first doses and 35 second doses administered.
As of Sunday, 51,930 of the 72,000 people aged 85 and over had received their first dose of vaccine from family doctors.
Four patients had received their second dose.
Earlier, Social Democrats’ co-leader Roisín Shortall expressed concern about the Covid-19 vaccine implementation schedule and said there appears to be a “very substantial gap” between what was predicted to reach Ireland and “the number that it is really being managed. ” .
Ms Shortall told the Dáil that while the figures are published daily, regarding the administration of vaccines, the same does not apply to inbound deliveries.
He said that when it came to AstraZeneca arrivals, it appeared that “more than two-thirds” of the expected vaccines “appear to have not been administered.”
Ms Shortall asked the Taoiseach to “provide an explanation” for that gap, updating the February figures if necessary, and to commit to publishing it on the basis of “doses received.”
The Social Democrats said this was important to “measure the performance” of the vaccine launch program.
In response, Mr. Martin said that “without a doubt” this was a “very important” issue.
Mr. Martin maintained that the “key problem” is continued supply, adding that there have been “obstacles along the way,” as the chair of the vaccine working group put it last Saturday.
He added that these issues were also being discussed at the EU level.
On her precise request, the Taoiseach said he would speak to her again after contacting the vaccine working group, saying: “There will be no difficulties for them to review the information.”
Ms. Shortall said that “the numbers we have now indicate that we are not managing what is coming in” and argued that they need to be publicly available so that people have “confidence” in the implementation program.
Reporting to Paul Cunningham and Fergal Bowers
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