DUBLIN: The HSE reports that more than 33,000 people have received the COVID-19 vaccine at the “address” of leading healthcare professionals, including nurses. Nobody knows what category they fall under. They are included in the ‘null’ category. Both Sinn Féin and INMO have come out against administering the COVID-19 vaccine to those who do not deserve it.
Over 33,000 healthcare workers received COVID-19 vaccine doses without their specific job title being registered. The revelation is based on figures provided by HSE to Opposition and trade unions. This category received 33,082 first doses and 18,308 second doses.
The document shows that, as of March 5th, 30,933 first-dose and 21,292 second-dose vaccines had been administered to nursing staff. More than 16,000 first doses and 9,000 second doses were given to medical and dental staff.
As of March 5, more than 29,000 health and community care professionals have been vaccinated. Staff categorised as management and administration were given 17,333 first doses and 6,478 second doses. The document shows that about 3,000 initial doses were given to the “other” category. 3,300 initial doses were given to employees listed in the general category. According to HSE, those in the “null” category are those outside the frontline staff groups who prefer to receive the vaccine.
According to Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane, the failure to precisely document the employment category of those who had received vaccines was bad for transparency.
Tony Fitzpatrick, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation director of industrial relations, said a large portion of the information provided about health care worker vaccination was incomplete. “We remain concerned that the IT system purchased for the vaccine programme is still not functioning fully. To date, it is still not issuing appointments – something which must be in place for the mass vaccination roll out. We have asked the HSE to ensure that these issues are resolved as quickly as possible,” he said.
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