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Pharmacists say they have been “left in the dark” by the Department of Health after offering to roll out vaccines that were earmarked for the over-70s to other cohorts in the community.
A plan to “work in tandem” – with pharmacists using AstraZeneca and GPs administering Moderna and Pfizer – would jump-start efforts to vaccinate in bigger numbers, said Eoghan Hanly, president of the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU).
The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has recommended that AstraZeneca should not be used to vaccinate people aged 70 and over.
Last week more than 21,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, originally earmarked for administration by GPs to the over-70s, arrived in the country.
Extreme lack of information according to IPU, on rollout of Covid vaccine Published: Thursday, 28 January 2021 11:51
The lack of information and systems being put in place by both the HSE and the Dept of Health in setting up the Covid 19 vaccination programme rollout is of grave concern to pharmacists, according to the President of the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU), Loughrea based pharmacist Eoghan Hanly.
While the significant shortage of supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as promised to Ireland and other EU countries, will inevitably delay the rollout process, pharmacists here are baffled as to why they have been taken off the list of administrators of the vaccine to anyone aged over 70.