Teachta Tully reported that:
“There is a lot of concern in many communities that GPs are not getting vaccines delivered on time.
“This needs to be addressed urgently, as the rollout is now lagging behind in some parts of the country, with many concerns being expressed to me about GP surgeries across this constituency not receiving their vaccine allocation for those 85 and over.
“Many GP practices in Cavan-Monaghan have not received their vaccine allocation for people 85 and over while other practices have had an over allocation which has allowed them to vaccinate people outside of this cohort.
“For example, it has been reported that Sneem in Co. Kerry was allocated with 300 vaccine doses on the 19th February, two full weeks ago, and have been able to vaccinate everyone in the 70 and over age cohort.
“I am delighted for the people in Sneem and good luck to them but it is a disgrace that two full weeks after Sneem was allocated enough of the vaccine to vaccinate everyone 70 and over GP practices in Cavan-Monaghan have not been allocated any for those 85 and over.
“If this is happening when we are only rolling the vaccine out to a small cohort of people, the 85’s and over, what is it going to be like when we get to the general population.
“I brought these concerns to my colleague and party spokesperson on Health David Cullinane TD who subsequently raised then with Minister Donnelly.
“He has been informed by the Minister that the remaining GP practices who were not issued with the vaccine would be getting them this week.
“I sincerely hope that this is the case and I would encourage any GP’s or patients who have been advised differently to please get in contact with me on 049-4373510 or Pauline.Tully@oireachtas.ie.
“A successful vaccine rollout is the route out of this crisis and the only source of hope for people. The Minister needs to sort out the mess they have made so far in the vaccine rollout for those eighty five and over and ensure this is not repeated for other age cohorts as this advances.
“On a welcome note, the first group of people with medical conditions is to begin this week, which is great. The prioritisation of this group is something I have called for.
“However, I am still very concerned that carers have not been allocated a place on the sequencing plan.
“In particular, carers of children with underlying conditions are very worried as children are not being vaccinated yet.
“Family carers have gone above and beyond throughout this pandemic to keep their loved ones safe at home and out of our overburdened hospitals.
“It is unfair that family carers are being treated differently to paid care workers who are prioritised for the vaccine.
“This is desperately frustrating for family carers, many of who have had to isolate and act as sole carer since the very start of the pandemic and have no prospect at the moment of being able to get back to some sort of normality to near the end of the year if they do not get prioritised in the plan.”
