GP pulls out of vaccine programme over ‘intimidating’ calls from public seeking jabs

A Limerick GP has pulled out of the next phase of the Covid vaccine rollout programme after receiving what he said were “intimidating” calls from members of the public unhappy that they had not yet received their jab.

Dr Kieran Murphy said there were “unrealistic levels of expectation” around the vaccine programme and he and staff at his practice had been on the receiving end of patients' anger.

The change in the priority system from being based on factors such as occupation or health status to one based solely on a person's age could not come soon enough because “there can be no quibble about a date of birth”, he told RTÉ Radio One’s Liveline.

He said he and the staff at his practice were pulling out of the next phase of the HSE programme because of the pressure they were being put under by the public seeking vaccine priority, although he praised the HSE for the rollout.

Dr Murphy was speaking from his hospital bed in University Hospital Limerick, where he was admitted last week because of stress.

"I got an episode, they feel that stress may have had a part to play,” he told the radio show.

"I didn’t physically feel stressed, but the level of stressors in the past number of months has been gigantic.”

The GP added: “The HSE has done an incredible job in the circumstances, things that would have taken years to put in place before the pandemic have been put in place in a week.”

He blamed a shortage of supply of the vaccines for the frustrations that had led to him receiving intimidating calls/

“We live in a very small community so the word got out that some people, particularly in the age range 75 to 80, had been vaccinated while others hadn’t, and we then began getting intimidating phone calls as to why particular people had been vaccinated and others hadn’t,” he said.

“I think the thing the general public do not realise is the level of work that goes into a practice to organise the vaccines and to be as fair as we possibly can in allocation.

“The people who weren’t vaccinated just had to wait two weeks until we got a further delivery to get their vaccine, but it came across as a sense of entitlement as to why they were left out while other people got their vaccines.

“As a result of that we’ve decided that we can’t really take part in the next phase of vaccination which is the high-risk group because determining who is high risk and who isn’t is very difficult, it’s not black and white.”

Dr Murphy said once the most at risk have largely had their jab, vaccinating based on age would be far more transparent.

"Age groups are black and white and I think the Government is right to stick to age groups despite the increased risk for Gardaí­ and teachers because it is the only way you can be as fair as you can without having complications of people asking why were we left out.”

He said the callers felt they had been deliberately left out, which was not the case.

There was no point in people ringing their GP about the vaccine because GPs had no more information about supply than was already in the media, and it was adding to an already heavy workload.

“It took up an inordinate quantity of time, both for me and for members of my staff, but still we’re getting these totally pointless, time-wasting phone calls,” Dr Murphy said.

Online Editors