The HSE has admitted it is aware that some people are being offered more than one Covid-19 vaccination appointment, but insisted no doses have been wasted as a result.
With the vaccine programme due to accelerate in the next week, the HSE said it had taken steps to stop the double bookings. “In the next phase, the portal will have an enhanced scheduling system to avoid similar booking conflicts,” it said. “Furthermore, a technical enhancement to the system will be introduced, enabling people to decline appointments.”
At present people are being invited to get a jab through a text message or phone call, and are then asked to confirm their attendance. Many have written on social media that they were offered vaccines on two or more occasions.
Typical is John Wall, a prostate cancer patient from Co Clare, who has been contacted three times with an offer of a first dose. “I received my vaccine on April 2,” he said. “That morning I received a text telling me that my vaccine had been scheduled for the following day at 11.20am. I also got a call the following Wednesday from the HSE asking me if I still needed to be vaccinated.”
The HSE said that all vaccination centres were now required to create reserve lists to ensure there is no wastage in the event of no-shows. “We strongly encourage all members of the public who are registered for their Covid-19 vaccine to attend for their appointment,” it said. “Participation in vaccination programmes in Ireland is not mandatory. Complete data of those who decline the vaccine is not currently available. Should a person change their mind, vaccination can be made available to them.”
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Wall pointed out that double-booking errors were likely to result in appointment slots being wasted. “Frontline staff in vaccination centres are doing their utmost, but without an up-to-date database to cross-reference, they’re always going to struggle,” he said. “The GPs’ involvement now with cohort four reaffirms the inability of the HSE to identify large swathes of the medically vulnerable.”
Olivia McDermott from Galway, who has been invited to attend two separate appointments, said: “On March 10 I got a text to say I was scheduled for my first dose in Ballybrit Racecourse [in Galway] on March 12, where I attended and got vaccinated. To my surprise I got a text on March 28 asking me to attend the Radisson Blu in Limerick the following day for my ‘first’ dose. I rang to say I wouldn’t attend and the girl on the phone said, ‘That’s happening a lot today.’ It’s definitely wasting vaccine slots.”
The HSE passed the one million mark last week; 301,628 people were fully vaccinated by last Wednesday, and 716,636 people had received their first dose.
The cabinet decided on Friday night to add 16 countries to the mandatory hotel quarantine list. These included a number of EU states, including France, Belgium and Italy. The US and Canada have also been added to the list.
Yesterday Micheál Martin said that public health advice was the “fundamental rationale” for extending the mandatory hotel quarantine list. The taoiseach said the government had been advised that this would give a greater degree of protection against coronavirus variants that were of concern. He denied that adding 16 countries would lead to chaos at airports and at quarantine hotels.
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Billy Kelleher, a Fianna Fail MEP, has called on the government to cover the mandatory hotel quarantine costs of returning Erasmus students. “If the medical advice is that they should spend time in mandatory quarantine, then it is hard to argue with this change,” he said. “However, what does need discussion is the significant financial cost students and their families will have to incur [for] quarantining in a hotel.
“Ogra Fianna Fail has suggested the students’ sending institution, their IT or university, should pay the hotel bill up front and then receive a refund from the Department of Higher Education. There is, I believe, significant merit in their proposal.”
The Department of Health confirmed that 14 people died of Covid-19 in Ireland yesterday, bringing the death toll to 4,816; 455 new cases were reported.
