[ad_1]
Ireland’s first flu vaccination clinic, recently established at the Market Green Retail Park in Midleton, is busy this weekend.
The clinic opened on Saturday morning with 390 appointments and 124 more on Sunday morning.
The clinic was established by Dr. Mike Thompson and other physicians in the area to provide the flu vaccine to patients.
The self-service clinic has the potential to vaccinate around 1,000 people over a weekend, but is limited by an international shortage of flu vaccines, explained Dr. Thompson.
“I think there will be enough stocks, two million doses have been ordered, but I think it will be delayed,” he recently told The Echo.
“It takes about 10 days for the vaccine to work, and the peak flu season usually starts right after Christmas, so we have time.”
However, Dr. Thompson cautioned that running large-scale vaccination programs can be very difficult for GPs in winter.
“Traditionally, we try to do the shots before Halloween because the general practice is very busy after that,” he said.
“We hope there will be less flu this year due to public health measures that people are using, such as social distancing, the use of masks and hand hygiene.
“Generally, the general practice is to just put out fires in November, December and January; it is only reactive and it will be difficult to make routine vaccinations, “he added.
[ad_2]