Ireland’s health chiefs are urged to give a full picture of Covid-19 vaccination plans as the rest of Europe implements jabs

IRELAND’s health chiefs and government were asked last night to give a full picture of their Covid-19 vaccination plans, while the rest of Europe jabbed.

The nations of the European Union have already started a coordinated effort to vaccinate citizens in the fight against the virus.

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Injections were given yesterday to the most vulnerable people and health workers across the bloc, with Spain, France, Italy and Greece among the EU countries to launch their programs.

Some nations began administering the jabs on Saturday, saying they weren’t prepared to wait another day.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the mass launch was “a moving moment of unity” for the union.

But HSE chief Paul Reid and Taoiseach Micheal Martin faced mounting questions last night about Ireland’s vaccination plans.

Vaccinations won’t start here until tomorrow, even though the first doses arrived with much fanfare on Saint Stephen’s Day.

DOCTORS EXAMINED

A number of top-notch doctors, including Rita Doyle, President of the Medical Council, have questioned why Ireland was waiting four days to administer the Covid-19 vaccine unlike the rest of Europe.

Reid was questioned about the delay yesterday when Covid cases hit record highs in Ireland, and replied “we want to get this right.”

But medical experts last night demanded more clarity from the HSE and the government on the vaccination scheme.

Anthony Staines, professor of health systems at DCU, told the Irish Sun: “I think we need a lot more clarity than we’ve had so far. What is the time scale?

“The Taoiseach was saying Mass last week (inoculation) in early August. And I was saying this week would start in June.

LOOKING FOR CLARITY

“I appreciate that it gets updated, but we really need to know, because there are a lot of companies that plan their summer with a simple question: Will there be a mass vaccination substantially completed by a certain date?

“If you know that most people will be vaccinated in August, you can start planning things for September.

“If they know that Christmas will come next year, at least they will know (companies and citizens), they may not be happy, but at least they are not going to make investments, buy shares, hire staff. And then let them go again. .

“Businesses are looking for clarity right now and I don’t think it’s unfair that they should get the information. I think the government should be explicit about its calendar. “

Some 10,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Ireland on December 26.

ROLLOUT DEFENSE

Reid defended a “slow” jab release yesterday, saying teams were working through the weekend on the registration and consent process.

The HSE chief confirmed that the first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will now be administered tomorrow, one day ahead of schedule in the HSE.

Reid revealed that a small number of people at Beaumont, St James, Cork and Galway University Hospitals will receive the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine tomorrow.

The HSE Supreme said there are 10,000 vaccines currently in Ireland with an additional 30,000 doses arriving in the coming days.

When asked why Ireland was not starting to inoculate people yesterday, as is the case across Europe, Reid said: “We want to do this right.”

He added that there was a “complex consent process” regarding the elderly and vulnerable.

COMPLEX PROCESS

But speaking to the Irish Sun last night, Staines questioned why the process was not ready to begin with the arrival of the vaccine.

The DCU professor highlighted how vaccine planning in Ireland started later than in many other EU countries.

And the leading physician urged health chiefs here to stop “chasing our tails” in the battle against Covid-19.

Staines told us: “I understand from what Paul Reid said that they wanted to make sure they were able to go through the consent process correctly. And actually that should have been thought a long time ago, as it is a no-brainer.

“We are in a situation where most of the European countries had their vaccination plans made at the beginning of the summer, subject to a later review, obviously.

“Because I don’t think most people realized in early summer that -70 degree refrigerators would be needed. Once they understood that, they reviewed their plans.

VERY LATE

“But we didn’t start our vaccination planning until October, which is very late. I don’t know who is responsible for that, it certainly doesn’t speed things up.

“Everything is on par with what happened before. We have the problem of being behind this all the time, that we are stuck reacting to whatever the virus is doing this week or last week and we are not planning ways to anticipate.

“I think until we plan that way, we’ll be chasing our tails for a while and that’s not a good place to be.”

Leo Varadkar admitted yesterday that he did not know why there was a delay between receiving the Covid-19 vaccines and starting them.

The Tanaiste admitted that Ireland is starting the roll out of the coronavirus vaccine at a slower pace than other countries.

He said: “What I’ve been told is that it only takes a couple of days to organize things, and although you could have done a few people in the first few days, the authorities thought it best to start on Wednesday and start right. , If you like.

“It’s going to start in earnest on Wednesday, we have 10,000 doses [that] Arrived, we will have approximately 40,000 doses per week starting in January.

We will catch up

“This will start with people in long-term care facilities, nursing homes and the staff who work there.

“I think we will probably start a little slower, but we will catch up.

“We are part of the European system, we get 1.11 percent of the vaccine, and that is in proportion to our population, and I think we will probably start a little slower than other countries, but we will catch up.

“I don’t see it as a race, I think it’s important that we do well.”

Varadkar also told Newstalk that more vaccines are arriving, which will increase capacity.

He said: “We now anticipate that the Moderna vaccine will be approved on January 6, that is not part of the current calendar … so it will bring an addition already in the first half of January.

“And there seems to be a good chance that the AstraZeneca will be approved in late January.

“And that’s particularly important because we’ve booked a lot of them, more than we did for Pfizer.”

Amid hopes that vaccines will help end the coronavirus pandemic and allow a return to normal life, Varadkar warned that he cannot see restrictions being lifted to allow mass gatherings “until summer at the earliest.”