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MONDAY SHOULD HAVE been all about the beginning of Ireland’s vaccine roll-out to those aged over 70, as the programme moving out into the community and started the third phase of the immunisation plan.
Instead, the focus shifted to a list of 37 planned locations for mass vaccination centres – with more questions than answers arising about when and how they will be used.
Some of these venues still have not had their contracts finalised and were caught off guard by the announcement. And a failure to mention the significant role GP surgeries will still play in this phase of the vaccination programme – or when any of this will even begin – caused confusion and worry.
This government’s communications strategy has come under repeated criticism in recent months – as kite-flying and ill-timed leaks about restrictions and other measures frustrate an exhausted population.
So it was the wrong moment to bungle an announcement.
On Monday morning Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly held a background briefing on the vaccination programme, with only health correspondents invited.
TheJournal.ie, which, like many other Irish media organisations, does not have a health correspondent – but has extensively covered the pandemic and vaccination roll-out – did not receive an invitation. Government spokespeople have assured media outlets this will not happen again.
As it turned out, there was little to miss at the exclusive briefing by the minister.
A list of locations for mass vaccination centres was released, with some basic details about how they will be used. Here’s the list:
Immediately issues were raised with some of the venues on the list. For a start, anyone with an appointment at the Radisson Hotel in Limerick – or is it actually in Co Clare? – would have to walk across a busy four-lane dual carriageway if they did not drive and relied on public transport to get there.
Agree - 💯the only way to get there with public transport is to go to Bunratty - cross road get next bus back towards Limerick- get off on road & walk to hotel -then bus back to Limerick /we all want to be positive & help but @UL @LimerickIT @thomondstadium would be more sensible https://t.co/XViRehPODK
— Maurice Quinlivan TD (@QuinlivanTD) February 15, 2021
Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson David Cullinane on Monday said that while the announcement of locations marked progress, “detail is still lacking”.
“There is no location in Limerick city, and counties with a very wide population spread such as Donegal only have one,” he pointed out. “We need to build on this, and the criteria used in the decision making should be transparent.
“This process and the choice of locations should be explained very clearly.”
Maybe it was explained clearly at the minister’s technical briefing on Monday morning.
But in the press release issued by his department detailing the 37 locations, there was no emphasis on the large role GP surgeries and smaller local vaccination hubs will play whenever the mass roll-out begins.
The only mention of general practice was this:
“While currently vaccines are being administered in healthcare settings and by GPs, many people will be offered their vaccination in these centres, having self-registered online.”
Later in the week HSE CEO Paul Reid made it clear that there will be several options, depending on people’s circumstances and locations, when the vaccination programme fully ramps up.
“Vaccination centres are one of a range of locations where we’ll be delivering the vaccine including GP clinics, including buddying up clinics [multiple GPs from an area using one larger surgery], including the centres that we have going live this weekend,” he said.
“And also vaccination centres, both bigger regional ones and smaller local ones around the country.”
Controversy over the communications strategy and confusion about how people will get to these 37 centres was followed on Tuesday by revelations that contracts have not been finalised for all of these centres and some venues had not been expecting the minister’s announcement.
The Seven Oaks Hotel in Carlow said that while it would be delighted to play a role in the vaccination roll-out and it had received enquiries from the HSE, the use of the venue had not been confirmed.
A spokesperson for the minister told TheJournal.ie the hotel in Carlow – announced as one of the locations just the day before – had been identified as a possible location but in recent days, due to a change in specifications, it was deemed too small.
Later that day the HSE confirmed a change to the location. Instead the sports hall at Carlow IT will be used because it offers better car parking facilities, access and internal space.
Two other venues – Charlesland Golf Club in Wicklow and The Bloomfield House Hotel in Westmeath – told this publication that full confirmation had not been received.
Gabriel Dooley, the estate agent who has been managing the plans for Charlesland Golf Club, told TheJournal.ie that the announcement had been a surprise.
“Nothing was run by the owners or us before they published the list,” he said.
He said that while planning for the vaccination centre is at an advanced stage and discussions with suppliers are ongoing, “the deal hasn’t been finalised”.
The list released on Monday stated that contracts for just two of the venues were yet to be finalised, but this related to two other venues; Longford Slashers GAA and Faithful Field GAA Centre.
Health officials have said the list is subject to change, with the HSE’s Paul Reid this week stressing “that will be the nature of the programme, that’s the nature of the adaptability that we have to show”.
How will they work?
While there is still no set timeline for the full roll-out of these vaccination centres, there are a few things we do know about them.
They were chosen locally based on a number of factors including population catchment, travel and distance time (aim of 30-40 minutes), parking and the availability of the space for a sustained period of time.
The larger centres will have 30 to 50 booths, delivering 3,000 to 5,000 vaccines per day and working on a 12-hour shift basis. Smaller centres will have 10 to 12 booths and will deliver 1,000 to 2,000 vaccines per day.
While many people will receive their vaccine in these centres, many others will be able to go to a local GP surgery for their jab. It is also expected that pharmacists will play a role, though this is another uncertain element of the plan.
The Irish Pharmacy Union has said the government has agreed funding for community pharmacies to administer vaccines.
However it told TheJournal.ie that it has “no clear details on exactly how and when we will be able to start providing a vaccination service to vulnerable patients and the broader public.”
In the coming months, people will be able to self-register online to go to a centre to receive their vaccine. This system is not yet available and further details are expected as we move into the second quarter of the year.
The government is expecting all those over the age of 70 will be fully vaccinated by mid-May. It is not clear whether the majority of these centres will be open by the time the vaccination programme moves to the fifth group, those aged 65-69.
But afterwards it will be the turn of those aged 18-64 who have conditions that put them at risk and HSE officials this week indicated that vaccination centres will be used for this cohort.
As we move into the second quarter of the year, the government – and the European Commission – has assured people that there will be a significant increase in the level of vaccine supply. Currently there are three vaccines that can be used once mass vaccination centres and the wider roll-out gets underway; the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, the Moderna vaccine and the AstraZeneca jab.
It is expected that the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine will be approved by the EMA in the coming weeks and will also be available in Ireland in the second quarter of the year.
‘We are ready for the next phase’
Officials and ministers have pointed to supply as the main issue with the vaccination programme, as 94% of available vaccines are being administered.
And yesterday the Taoiseach rejected the suggestion that the public’s frustration about the management of the pandemic was down to a communications problem.
In an interview with TheJournal.ie he said:
“No, I just think it’s the fact that people are facing into a significant period of restrictions,” he said. “It’s understandably causing a lot of upset and worry and concern.”
He said the news on vaccination centres was given to indicate to people that “we are ready and prepared for the mass vaccination phase of the roll-out programme”.
“We have always made it clear that GP surgeries would be the key area, we had already announced that for over 70s.
“And I think vaccination centres are themselves evidence that the HSE is developing very strong capacity, it demonstrates that when we need to be significantly increasing the level of vaccinations – for example when we have 250,000 per week, one million per month – in addition to GPs and pharmacies we will have vaccination centres.”
Martin said as the supply of vaccine doses increases and the roll-out gains momentum, this may give the government “better choices” when it comes to decisions on restrictions.
It looks likely that strict measures will remain in place at least until the middle of April as the government has said it needs to be cautious about easing restrictions while it rolls out the immunisation programme.
Martin told TheJournal.ie that the phased re-opening of schools and the impact this has on levels of transmission across the country will inform any further relaxation of measures.
Officials will be closely monitoring the school re-opening to assess the threat posed by the new and more transmissible variant to the progress that has been made since the start of the year.
“NPHET are advising Monday, government will decide on Tuesday in relation to the restrictions, but they will be reviewed on a regular basis and in particular, depending on the impact of the first phase of the reopening, which is the schools at the beginning of March [it will be the] middle of March before the reviews,” Martin said.
“It will be kept under constant review, particularly as the vaccination programme rolls out and perhaps gives us better choices. So nothing is set in stone.”
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Donnelly will go down as the man who was given the opportunity to be a hero but instead sank like a brick. In the next election, be will be cast aside like the jeans I used to be able to fit into this time last year!
@Peter Cavey: Donnelly got elected in his constituency as an independent and shortly after turned his back on those who elected him as such and joined FF. He still got elected at the next general election, and is now one of the most powerful ministers in this cabinet. So , no he won’t be cast aside at all. Same old, same old for 100 years now.
@Eddie Feeney: so true. I didn’t vote for him either time. I am ashamed to live among…. The same …. who keep voting Harris in. And well before that, Roache!! (Dots cos it kept saying toxic for random words!)
@Helen Downey: you have an excellent TD in Jennifer Whitmore – be grateful. I don’t have a female TD in my constituency, and there is just 1 woman TD in all of Cork.
@Eddie Feeney: An independent, then a landslide as a SocDem, then he switched to FF. I was one of many whose vote was stolen (though many tried to warn about him. He barely scraped through last time (was it the fifteenth count?), and will probably struggle even more next time.
@Peter Cavey: chances are before the next election he’ll jump ship and join FG
@Eddie Feeney: the satisfied and Conservative middle classes won’t vote for anything but the status quo for fear they might lose a fiver a week and someone might get a house for a bit less than them (even though it has zero effect on their lives), over the potential for a fairer society and a move away from little government and look after yourself policies of fg and ff
Donnelly is a careerist and no more
That would not shock me. Hes of their DNA
@Peter Cavey: Donnelly on Vincent Browne: https://youtu.be/8GutwV8hqtA
@Peter Cavey: maybe give up the keyboard warrior role & get more exercise!
@Hotirish: I don’t usually take advice from bot accounts. Sorry.
Jesus can the Civil Service and Government not join the dots together. I suppose this is what happens when NO one can or is held responsible. Now we’ve the Brazilian variant of Covid because the 3 Stooges diddle and daddle constantly on everything.
@Mick McGuinness: Yep we got them the three stooges
@Mick McGuinness: Buck Rogers will have returned by the time this Government finally ‘ramps up’ vaccinations!!!
Small sparse population with way too many big chiefs and its like none of these highly paid chiefs know what their doing.
It’s like he’s saying there’s no takeaway pints or non essential construction allowed!!
@Michael Maher: a lot of chiefs alright, there should be 1 person making announcements, at the moment Mehole, Leo, Donnelly, Ryan, Reid, Holohan, then throw in the ‘experts’ scienctists on the TV’s and radio. Also the opposition then come out and tell everyone that messaging are confusing rather than trying to clear up some misinformation
This is Ireland.
The Irish government and the HSE are involved.
How could have ever have turned into anything other than a shambles???
@Marjory Proops-Tinklebottom: This is a clear example of a litany of failures, and not all are by the HSE. The UK have vaccinated 10% of their population, the US 6% while the EU are far behind at just 2%.
All have ordered similar amounts of vaccines but the US and UK accelerated the approvals process betting on some manufacturers and not others, and in the case of the UK and US, investing more in advance to help companies boost development and production capacity, London and Washington have made a faster start than Brussels. The EU screwed up.
In total, the UK and US have each spent about seven times more upfront, per capita, on vaccine development, procurement and production than the European bloc, according to data gathered by Airfinity, a London-based life sciences analytics company.
The BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine was signed off in the UK on December 2, the US on December 11 but not in the EU until December 21.
The UK and US put in extra orders for the BioNTech/Pfizer jab within weeks of its encouraging early trial results in July. Brussels did not do its deal until November. We’re paying the price for that now.
The EU are very reluctant to give the exact numbers of vaccines administered within the EU to date, it’s difficult to count, they say. Right… Lets have a stab at it. About 25.5 million. At a guess… While the UK have managed 17.5 million.
The US have managed 60 million, Germany 4.7 million, France 3.5 million, Italy 3.4 million, Spain 3 million, Poland 2.6 million, and so on, but we’re going to plan with 1/4 million people vaccinated so far. Right…
The longer the article the more you and me know there waffling on and on. Short story is Donnelly is a tool and out of how depth . :)
And the rest of them changers are milking me you and the pandemic for as long as they can..
Self register online? When? They might as well post out the vaccine to every household and we’ll self administer the jabs ourselves. They can record this by pen and paper until we are all inoculated by 2037, which by then we’ll have a government of 159 Taoisaigh with each one having 2 days in the limelight. #cantwait
@Sean O’Reilly: Their website is a shambles, you will spend ages trying to navigate what should be an easy sign-up process, trust me, I’m totally computer literate and felt like smashing my laptop 2 weeks ago when registering for the vaccination for front like healthcare workers.
Id say the Kinahans would have better success importing the Sputnik variant and getting it out into the public
@cill123: I’d take my chances with the virus.
@cill123: haha
@cill123: Rathkeale rovers have that sown up.
Leo will come to the rescue…. his spin doctors are waiting for the right moment to announce that he will be pulling on the green jersey and start jabbing for a few hours a week to relieve the backlog
@Max Power: part of the issue with this government is that varadkar can’t seem to accept he’s not in charge
@tomas o beag: yes and the other main part of the problem is that Varadkar and Harris have to watch Martin and Donnelly in their old jobs 24/7
@Max Power: bang on. Hes a dangerous narcissist
Fianna Fail have a natural talent for disaster. They even put it in their name
I generally don’t fire scattering rounds but normally precise targets when warranted but irrespective of covid this has raised an even more concerning issue that there would appear to be absolutely no disaster plan in place for emergencies. I’m sick of hearing people attack anyone who complains by saying ‘this is a novel virus’, ‘no one can prepare for it’. True to a degree but you CAN prepare for a general emergency in terms of public health, emergency medical attention, communications and many more areas which we have not even got running correctly after 12 months. These things should not even have to be thought up when a crisis arrives, should be a press of a button to start all the engines and obviously tweak as needed to suit the particular emergency. Very basic stuff.
I remember seeing a documentary about Sweeden (I think) building their road networks in the 60′s and 70′s. Every 10 miles or so the road was widened for about half a mile so they could be used as landing and take off areas for fighter planes. Their’s I hope…….
@Gavin Linden: Remember that had a Plan if we had a Nuclear Disaster, Iodine Tablets.
Donnelly is a MUPPET in disguise. Honestly this bloke is a fraud in the highest order. The fact alone he was given the job as health minister beggars belief .shame, shame, shame. You sow what you reap as the saying goes.
@Paul Gorry: i think FF acted like it was the good ol days when divvying out ministries. Send the new lad to “Angola” to keep him in check done won’t get too cocky and upset the old boys. Not a scintilla of thought that Health required unprecedented leadership at the time. No, the views of the likes of Willie O’Dea – the old guard- as usual, trumped the nation’s needs
@Paul Gorry: I think you meant ‘you reap what you sow’ but I get your point.
And we appear to be slowly slipping down the vaccination league table as well. ‘The board have full confidence in the Manager….’ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1196071/covid-19-vaccination-rate-in-europe-by-country/
Why do they keep saying Limerick’s one is on the Ennis Road, Limerick? It’s factually false. It’s in Clare. It meets the regulations for cross border travel for essential business of course and it’s not too far away from Limerick if you drive (very little bus service to near it though, and about 2km walk from the city border so it’s definitely inaccessible to a lot of people near me), but it is not in the county of Limerick and it’s misleading to say it is.
Sounds like #leotheleak is at it again
Bungled, Donnelly, that’s about right.
We wouldn’t expect anything less.
This is the same thing as with the testing right. Here in rural Ireland if you need to get tested you have to drive 45km to the nearest test centre and this is no joke. How come other EU countries with much bigger populations manage to test people in their own homes or in their home town medical centres?
@Csilla: they don’t have rural housing scattered across every field in their country. They have large cities and large towns which support a range of services and then networks of connected smaller settlements. We have 1 large city, 1 medium city and 3 very small cities with a good few towns around 30k but the rest is scattered completely. You can trace a huge proportion of our issues with public services back to our approach to one off housing. It’s unsustainable in every aspect.
@David Clements: not one off housing only but our general approach to population distribution.
@David Clements: The safest place to live in this pandemic is in a one off house ” rural housing scattered across every field ” not in a “settlement” small, medium or large.
@Michael Reilly: why? If there’s nowhere to go then whats the difference? Dublin has only briefly had the highest incidence rate by county. Plus seeing neighbours and others every day is better for mental health. Plenty of over 70s in towns and cities stopping for several socially distanced chats every day on the street. I couldn’t imagine the loneliness and isolation for their rural equivalents. But each to their own.
Huge money spent on PR advisors and they still manage to mess everything up
@Ian James Burgess: very good point. Varadkar the most prolific commentator on all matters and this is his pr and communications team strategy as they know so many only look surface level at things. Therefore as long as you are saying something, seen and heard most will be delighted with that and won’t look deep enough to see your vacuous comments for what they are
Couldn’t organise a p^^s up in a brewery
@Wessss: No problem organising one in the Station House Hotel for ‘Golfgate’ though…
The vaccine rollout is shambolic, no organisation of resources, announced venues that had not been agreed, only just advertised for vaccinators, 150,000 doses of Astrazeneca in Ireland in February yet less than 20,000 administered. You have had a year to plan for when a vaccine would be available!!! Now it’s available…. Oh we better start planning….
It’s jobs for the boys ” but the people have voted.
Bungled announcement? This government? Surely not!
Just a normal day.
The government in Ireland are suppose to protect the people of Ireland..I am ashamed to say those clowns are turning the country in to a shambles .a population of 5 millions??. I live in western Australia and 1 man mark McGowan is running the state single hand..he can do no wrong because he has balls.and just make a decision and that the end of it..that the reason we could go to a rugby game last night with 10.000 and watch Rob Kearney..play..
@Barry Oneill: balls, that’s what our lot lack. A bunch of conservative careerists. How people keep voting for people whose sole career achievement seems to be to get to the end is beyond me.
Our whole senior civil service also needs reinventing for the modern world
They wouldn’t run a bath
A lot of those venues have political affiliations.
I’m still pissed that there’s only one place in Co Galway, and that’s almost as far from me as it’s possible to get and still be in Galway
That guy would be out of his depth in a bath.
@Michael Creagh: if a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach or Government is passed in the Dáil and the Taoiseach and Government dont resign, then Dáil can be dissolved and a general election can be called. the opposition parties need to be all over this!!
@Michael Creagh: if a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach or Government is passed in the Dáil and the Taoiseach and Government dont resign, then Dáil can be dissolved and a general election can be called. the opposition parties need to be all over this!!
‘ Bungled’ sums up this ‘government’ in a word
Were would you get it only the muppet government in Ireland could do it
A motion of no confidence needs to be raised. if a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach or Government is passed in the Dáil and the Taoiseach and Government dont resign, then Dáil can be dissolved and a general election can be called. the opposition parties need to be all over this!!
just get amazon to organise the vaccinations,
if you want it finished before end of the week – get prime!
if a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach or Government is passed in the Dáil and the Taoiseach and Government dont resign, then Dáil can be dissolved and a general election can be called. the opposition parties need to be all over this!!
A motion of no confidence needs to be put forward. if a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach or Government is passed in the Dáil and the Taoiseach and Government dont resign, then Dáil can be dissolved and a general election can be called. the opposition parties need to be all over this!!
have your say