Emily Walshe had a momentary wobble when her name was called for the optional Covid-19 vaccine at the Mater Hospital in Dublin last Thursday morning. For one thing, even though she is a nurse, she is "terrified of needles" and she wondered: "Do I really want to be the first to get it?"
Dr Eavan Muldoon, consultant in infectious diseases at the Mater. Photo: David Conachy
A ward was designated, priority lists drawn up of staff most exposed to Covid-19 and one of the biggest tasks, according to the operations manager, was plugging into the HSE s IT system for vaccine registration.
The first vaccination took place at 3pm on Tuesday, with Dr Muldoon its first recipient. This was not queue jumping. As a breastfeeding mother of a 14-month-old son, she wanted to demonstrate to other mothers that the vaccine is safe. A very large proportion of healthcare workers are women and are young women. We had a lot of questions around pregnancy and breastfeeding. I decided to be an advocate for breastfeeding mothers because I believe this vaccine is safe if you are breastfeeding and it is the right thing to do. That s why I spoke up, she said.