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The first person to receive the Covid-19 vaccine in Cork is Professor Mary Horgan, along with 15 other frontline healthcare workers at CUH this afternoon.
The infectious disease specialist has been working in the wards alongside her CUH colleagues during the pandemic and has also been a regular advisor to public health officials and has appeared in the media to advise the public on best practices to combat the spread. of the virus.
Professor Horgan was just one of 15 CUH front-line staff members who received vaccinations shortly after lunch break today – she is an infectious disease consultant at CUH and president of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
The group included nurses like Sinead Horgan, who has been in the wards with her colleagues during the worst days of the pandemic.
Nurse Horgan, deputy director of nursing for the South-South West Hospital Group, spoke with CorkBeo a few minutes before being vaccinated.
The 49-year-old health worker said: “It is very exciting, I have no fear of receiving it. It’s the beginning of the end of all this, finally! “
“I am delighted to be a part of this today. I have seen firsthand the effects of the virus in the community and in the hospital.
“I want to lead by example and encourage others to take it too when it is presented,” he added.
“Of course, in the meantime, we have to abide by the rules and maintain social distancing and wash our hands as we launch the campaign.”
Sinead set up the swab clinic at St Mary’s Health Campus in Gurranabraher for staff and has been reassigned to areas working both in the community and in acute departments since March.
“I’ve seen what this virus has caused, we just have to continue vaccinating now.”
While only 15 CUH employees will receive the vaccine today, about 250 will receive it tomorrow, the same amount on Thursday and more in the coming days as the program escalates. The vaccines arrived in Cork at lunchtime.
The initial deployment will focus on front-line healthcare workers in Cork, and the South-South West Hospital Group (S / SWHG) said it will focus on “front-line staff working on the Covid pathway.”
These include staff who have been in the trenches with the battle against the pandemic since early March and who have treated hundreds of patients in Leeside.
The initial plan is to vaccinate between 12 and 15 employees today, 250 scheduled for tomorrow and the same number on Thursday.
The program will continue to move into the New Year and should get another boost when one or more of the vaccines awaiting approval are given the green light.
Earlier today, 79-year-old grandmother Annie Lynch of Liberties in Dublin became the first person in Ireland to receive the vaccine at St James Hospital in Dublin.
The S / SWHG employs more than 11,000 people in 10 hospitals in Cork, Kerry, Waterford and South Tipperary counties.
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