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The vast majority of people over the age of 70 will be able to receive the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines directly from their own GP after the details of the implementation plan between the HSE and IMO were finalized last night.
Vaccines must be used up within five days of leaving the deep-frozen vaccine storage facility in Dublin, where they will be stored.
Deliveries will begin with the GP practices that have the highest number of people over the age of 85, and will taper through the smaller practices over the next several weeks, before moving on to the next age groups.
The top 70% of the nearly 1,400 GP practices in Ireland have more than 200 out of 70 on the books and thus between them cover the vast majority of the group within the population.
These practices have been deemed to be large enough to be able to cope with the logistical challenges associated with direct receipt and administration of the delicate Covid-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna.
It means that 80-90% of those over 70 will now be able to go directly to their GP’s surgeries to get vaccinated.
There are two alternate arrangements for GP vaccinations with fewer than 200 over 70 on their books.
It will see the creation of centralized vaccination clinics run by GPs in large urban areas. The first of these will be at the Community Covid Assessment Hub at DCU in Dublin, where 121 smaller medical offices will come together to administer the vaccines to their own patients.
The other will see a small number of practices outside Dublin, Cork and Galway teaming up with a large GP practice in their own region, from where the vaccination will be administered by the patients’ own GP team.
The first phase of the deployment will target 72,000 people over the age of 85 starting on February 15.
The first 66,000 of them will be vaccinated at your GP’s office.
About 2,000 are patients in smaller offices in Dublin, so they will be asked to attend the DCU Hub for vaccination.
The GP will require the remaining 4,000 over the age of 85 to go to a neighboring practice site or to a centralized center in large urban areas outside of Dublin.
Everyone over the age of 85 is expected to have their first dose of vaccine within three weeks of February 15.
IMO General Practitioner Committee Chairman Dr. Denis McCauley said he is confident that GPs across the country are eager to start and deliver their patients.
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