People who register for vaccine on portal can’t choose where they will get jab – HSE chief

People who sign up for a Covid-19 vaccine on the HSE portal due to open in a few weeks will not have a choice of location where they will get the jab, HSE chief Paul Reid said today.

He said they will have to attend the clinic, GPs surgery or vaccination centre they have been assigned.

It will be possible to change the time they are allocated.

The portal is to open up to the general public for the first time - first to people aged 65 to 69 - to register for a vaccination.

Asked about people jumping the queue so far he said the cases were" minor" in number and anyone who abused the system when it was being rolled to frontline healthcare workers were dealt with.

He said if people skipped the queue "we will act on it" and it relies on levels of trust.

People can input details into the portal but there will be validation at the vaccination centre, he insisted.

Many health administration staff have to be vaccinated because they will come in contact with patients.

"The vast majority has gone to plan.Where we see exceptions we will address it. It is a programme that relies on a level of trust ."

The numbers who have cheated are very, very marginal, he claimed.

Questioned about a mix up in notification of vaccinations for people with kidney disease who received a notification a day late and bookings for a group of GPs already vaccinated he insisted no vaccines go to waste although if there people do not show up it slows down the system.

"Wherever we have issues, people who come forward out of sequence or are registered in an inappropriate way we do monitor them.

"We do take these things seriously. We need to keep reassuring the public the vaccination has been a tremendous success. The benefits have been phenomenal .We need to be reassuring the public the vaccination campaign is working. We will address any exceptions. They are exceptions."

The double booking was not a system issue.

Terms of reference are being finalised for an investigation into the Beacon Hospital where 20 teachers from St Gerard's School in Bray were given vaccine.

He said he has spoken to Beacon Hospital chief executive twice about the incident.

Asked about the failure of 1 million doses to materialise for April with around 860,000 doses due to be administered instead he said there are "swings and roundabouts."

He still expects around one million doses a month over the April, May and June period.

Up to Monday March 29 some 819,676 doses were administered.

Around 120,000 to 125,000 vaccines will be administered next week.

The HSE received a delivery of around 112,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine yesterday.

So far 32,000 people in the very high risk category have received a vaccine dose and it is proving difficult to identify them all.

In some cases people have been identified but are delaying vaccination until they speak to their consultant first, he added.

Around 280,000 over -70s have received a vaccine dose.

He welcomed the overhaul of the priority list for vaccination saying that prioritising people on the basis of age concurs with what HSE doctors believe.

It will give the HSE greater clarity for the months ahead and will be for the "greater good of everyone", he added

Asked about reports in the Irish Independent that members of the Dublin senior football squad broke Covid-19 rules to take part in a training session, he said he would not comment on the incident.

However, he said the HSE had received very good cooperation from sporting bodies regarding public health messaging around Covid-19.

Commenting on the threat of a fourth wave he said it would lead to unsafe health services.

He urged people to plan their Easter break in a safe manner.

Online Editors