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Almost 91 million euros will be paid to GPs and pharmacists to vaccinate 1.5 million people under a plan to be considered by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
The agreement would cover the administration of the vaccine in surgeries of GPs, potentially larger venues in locations such as sports halls or churches and in mass vaccination centers to be established by the HSE.
The new scheme, if agreed, will go into effect as soon as possible after EU regulatory authorities approve the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and supplies are delivered to Ireland, possibly in late January or early February.
Under the new proposed agreement, general practitioners and pharmacists would receive 25 euros for administering each dose of the vaccine in their surgeries or in their local centers. An additional processing fee of € 10 would be paid per patient. For a two-dose vaccine, like the one produced by AstraZeneca, the total fee paid would be € 60.
If a single dose vaccine is subsequently approved, the total fee paid to GPs would be € 35.
Hourly rate
GPs participating in larger mass vaccination centers to be established by the HSE would receive an hourly rate of € 120.
Pharmacists who participate in these mass vaccination clinics will be paid a rate of € 70 per hour, the Cabinet will be informed.
The new agreement is scheduled to last six months and will then be reviewed.
Separately, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is expected to tell Cabinet on Tuesday that a Health Department review in November found no evidence to support allegations that female nursing students had been exploited during their placements. in hospitals.
The review also found that the downsides of converting nursing student placements to healthcare assistant positions in hospitals would outweigh the pros. However, an option for such a scheme, which was introduced for several months last spring by then-health minister Simon Harris, should be retained, according to the review.
Clinical placements
On Saturday, Donnelly ended the students’ clinical placements in hospitals for at least the next two weeks to free training staff and return to front-line positions.
Before Christmas there were reports that nursing students were being exploited both in terms of their salary and in relation to the tasks they were asked to perform.
The Irish Organization of Nurses and Midwives said in October that female nursing students were “effectively asked to work as unpaid staff.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said in December, following concerns raised by opposition MPs, that the HSE should investigate whether female nursing students are being “exploited or abused” by asking them to do work outside of their training.
He said that if nurses were signed up for a 13-hour shift or a 10-hour shift, they should be paid and that no freshman should treat a Covid patient.
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