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Kenneth Rundle getting his first dose of the Pfizer Vaccine from Doctor Elizabeth Walsh from Lusk Medical in the Helix Vaccination Centre. Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Mid-April vaccine target for over 70s won't be met as GP rollout struggles with delivery delays

Some GPs have opted not to sign up to vaccinate high risk groups due to the pressure and stress of the programme to date.

GPS HAVE SAID continued shortfalls in vaccine supplies in the country mean they will not be able to ensure all over 70s receive their first jab by mid-April, as promised by Taoiseach Micheál Martin just over a week ago.

In his speech to the nation on 30 March, the Taoiseach said supply is to “dramatically increase” in April, May and June.

“By the middle of April, all over 70s will have had their first dose, and mid to late May all over 70s will be fully vaccinated,” he said.

But GPs have continued to report supply issues hampering their ability to move fully through their over 70s list, with some still working through their 75-79 or 80-84 cohorts.

Some are now reluctant to get involved in the roll-out to at risk groups as they and their staff are experiencing burnout from months of juggling vaccine clinics and their normal practice work.

HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry confirmed to The Journal that this mid-April timeline will not be met but said significant progress has been made and he is confident all over 70s will have their first doses by the end of the month.

“We were always aiming to get certainly all first doses for this over 70 age group by mid or the second half of April. I expect we’ll have covered all those first doses certainly within the month of April. 

“Our experience is there’s always something that happens, there are always – stragglers is the wrong word, but there are reasons we have to revisit it and pick people up.” 

Dr Denis McCauley, GP in Donegal and head of the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP committee, told The Journal that his practice should have been moving on to the 70-74 cohort this week but “due to Pfizer [delivery] constraints” they are only just finishing first doses for the 75-79 group.

“We get a delivery every two weeks, we’ve to finish giving second doses to the 80-84s, finish first doses for 75-79s and begin to vaccinate some of the over 70s. There has been a shortfall but we have an expectation that the next deliveries will be larger.”

He said delivery is now well streamlined in the majority of cases, with GPs given five to seven days’ notice on the exact quantities they are to receive. However he acknowledged there have been a small number of cases in which GPs’ deliveries were delayed, disrupting patients’ appointments.

“We would usually schedule vaccines for the day after the delivery is planned because there can be some delay on the day,” he explained.

On Monday, GP Dr Adrian McGoldrick reported he had to delay his vaccination clinic because of a late delivery, stating he had no way to to confirm the doses were definitely en route on that day. The doses did arrive later that day and patients received their jabs.

Dr Nicola Stapleton also recently reported delivery shortfalls to her practice that would have delayed second doses for a number of elderly patients. The HSE later arranged for an additional unscheduled delivery of vaccines to the practice to address the issue. 

Speaking at today’s HSE briefing, CEO Paul Reid acknowledged that some GPs did not receive the full delivery they needed but said it is “clearly communicated out in advance”. 

Reid denied that this was a delivery issue on the part of manufacturers or a problem with Ireland’s own cold-chain delivery processes. 

“The committed delivery that they [GPs] will get based on the volume that we have, sometimes they have more patients than we have volume for that given week,” he said. “It’s a scheduling issue then to schedule the patients for the following week.”

Monaghan GP Dr Illona Duffy will just meet the mid-April timeline in her practice, but only by holding a weekend clinic. 

Speaking to The Journal said she will receive her last delivery of first doses on 16 April and will administer those jabs the following day during a Saturday vaccination clinic at the surgery.

However she said she knows colleagues who were left weeks behind in their roll-outs due to delivery shortfalls.

“It’s not even just about location. Here in Monaghan, two practices got their vaccines on the first week of the roll-out, we didn’t get ours until two weeks after that and another practice didn’t get theirs until another two weeks later again,” she said.

“That put them a month behind. It has caused a lot of angst, people saying we’re incompetent and can’t manage the roll-out or that we have them and we’re just not giving them for some reason.

“It didn’t help that they [the HSE] had their ads out saying everyone over 80 should be getting a call when we still hadn’t got vaccines for all of our over 85s.”

She said her practice has been “lucky” that deliveries have arrived on time, but she is aware of other GP colleagues who had delayed deliveries or shortfalls in expected supplies that forced them to rearrange patient appointments.

“It’s not helping patients to have confidence in the system, it’s also not helping GPs who are considering getting involved in vaccinating the at-risk groups. They don’t want to have to continue worrying about vaccines not arriving.”

Dr Duffy’s practice is aiming to have all first and second doses administered to over 70s by the middle of May and, after that, she said they will not be doing any further vaccination clinics.

“It’s too difficult to try to do it and keep normal surgery going. Staff have been working their weekends and taking work home with them in the evening because the time it takes to book the clinics is phenomenal. They just can’t get it all done during the day.”

Limerick GP Dr Kieran Murphy told RTÉ’s Liveline this week that he had decided not to participate in the vaccination roll-out any longer due to pressure and in some cases abuse from patients demanding a vaccine.

He said worry about the vaccination programme and the intimidating calls they received from some patients had kept staff awake at night. The main issue, he said, was supply. 

“We were warned that there would be less than adequate quantities of the vaccine in our second and third deliveries and the problem with that was that we had arranged that we were going to vaccinate all of a particular age group and it meant that only some of that age group were vaccinated,” he explained.

“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 his practice will not sign up to administer vaccines to the very high risk and high risk cohorts. 

Dr Duffy said staff at her practice have also experienced abuse on the phone from patients. 

“I understand people are stressed, I get that, but some are thinking they should be getting it when they aren’t even meeting the criteria for it,” she said. “We won’t be finished our over 70s until the middle of May and there’s no way we’d consider doing other vaccines.”

It is expected that the majority of GPs will opt to assist with the roll-out to at risk groups, administering the AztraZeneca vaccine, with around 1,000 practices already signed up with the HSE. 

Dr Nuala O’Conor Covid lead for the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) said GP teams all over the country are doing their best to administer vaccines, in addition to normal non-Covid work and treatment of those with symptoms of Covid.

She said most are vaccinating at weekends and bank holidays to manage the workload.

“What happened to Dr Kieran’s team is happening to GP teams all over the country and is neither right, fair or deserved. Please respect your GP team,” she said. 

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    Mute stephen kavanagh
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:12 PM

    I’m glad she’s mixing with all the great thinkers of the day

    356
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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:21 PM

    Bunch of tinkers alright…

    247
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    Mute Duck Knight
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:33 PM

    Smart move by Hillary. Sort out the idiot vote

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    Mute Ryan Anthony
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:36 PM

    Seeing these ***res get pumped up PR wise makes me angry, I’d say I’d be even more so if I had daughters. Whats it teaching them? Don’t be intelligent, don’t work hard, don’t develop yourself don’t have a career plan, just accidentally on purpose release a porn tape of yourself naked taking a hammering from behind for the whole world to see, act dumb, ignorant and light headed, fake date a few famous guys being seen holding their hand on red carpets in front of dumb photographers and you’ll get $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$…do it the other way you can still make it…and be paid $0.70c for every situation where a man makes $1.

    You can even run to become the first female President after decades of hard work and compromise…and then some PR man will tell you that you have to associate with one of the ones who released a tape of herself being jackhammered and acted like a dumb sh111t as part of bringing in the youth vote.

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    Mute stephen kavanagh
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:40 PM

    So right Ryan, I simply wouldn’t bother if I was her, I’d sooner not be President, it smacks of desperation if she thinks that can get her the youth vote, most young people would see through that instantly

    50
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    Mute VinHeffer89
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:46 PM

    Sadly, many, many young people actually won’t see through that, Stephen.

    66
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    Mute stephen kavanagh
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:59 PM

    Maybe not Vin but they still won’t vote for her just because she took a selfie with Kim Kardashian. So she’s lost street cred with those who look down on the Kardashians – a sizeable demographic – without gaining anything in return

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    Mute Liam Byrne
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    Aug 7th 2015, 3:06 PM

    Even a broken clock tells the right time twice a day.

    18
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    Mute Jake Race
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    Aug 7th 2015, 3:50 PM

    Since when do young people vote?

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    Mute Jimmy Jim-Jim
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    Aug 7th 2015, 4:14 PM

    This will be long forgotten by the time that election rolls around.

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    Mute L-Plate
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:14 PM

    I think we a losing the concept of a selfie. What happened to a good aul photograph?

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    Mute Jimmy Jim-Jim
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:16 PM

    They may be lacking in the literacy department.

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    Mute GuinnessPower
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:13 PM

    Seriously who cares.

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    Mute LesBehan
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:29 PM

    I only have a vague idea who this is, I was never a big fan of Star Trek.

    56
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    Mute Daniel Dudek Corrigan
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    Aug 7th 2015, 3:08 PM

    “Meanwhile, Kris Jenner also managed to get a selfie”

    No, that’s not a selfie…

    52
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    Mute Mark Gerard Lochlain
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:15 PM

    Hurry up and post the Irish Water article about the lead pipes!!! It’s been on other social media all morning! What’s keeping the Journal??

    46
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    Mute Supernova
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:23 PM

    Everyone I read about the Kardashians or look at pictures of them I just shake my head

    43
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    Mute Jack DaCosta
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:32 PM

    What do Kim Kardashian and Hilary Clinton have in common?
    Answer:
    They’re both 99% false.
    Don’t mention it.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Aug 8th 2015, 12:33 AM

    They always seem to have new dresses unlike Monica?

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    Mute Andrew English
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:48 PM

    Wow. America is truly f*cked. I would be ashamed if I was American. Imagine having to stoop that low in order to get some publicity. The majority of that aliens followers on Twitter won’t even know who Clinton is. Probably think it’s a selfie before she goes on to the Ellen show.

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    Mute James Reardon
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    Aug 7th 2015, 4:54 PM

    exactly, imagine our country voting for a president because she had a photograph taken with a woman famous for being a cum bucket. A good looking cum bucket. but still a cum bucket.

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    Mute Shawn Rahoon
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    Aug 7th 2015, 4:55 PM

    The majority of Americans couldn’t give a fiddlers f**k about kardashian or clinton. or what others think of them.

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    Mute Infidel
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:21 PM

    Wow never mind her email scandal or her plummeting poll numbers. The journal has begun it’s fawning extra early!

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    Mute stephen
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:30 PM

    Is there no barrel Clinton won’t scrape?

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    Mute Jack DaCosta
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:41 PM

    ‘Barrel’? (as in oil barrel)
    Subliminal puns.
    Very good Stephen.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Aug 8th 2015, 12:32 AM
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    Mute thejynxeffect
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    Aug 7th 2015, 3:25 PM

    Hanging out with Kim Kardashian? Great way to appeal to the braindead

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    Mute Jake Race
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    Aug 7th 2015, 3:28 PM

    Sure, but it was all forgotten 3.5 seconds after the event. Kardashian fans don’t have big attention spans.

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    Mute Jake Race
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    Aug 7th 2015, 3:33 PM

    Is anyone a little freaked out by by this alliance between the Kardashians and Klintons? What if they join forces with the Ronulans? They could be headed for the neutral zone as we speak!

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    Mute Luke McDermott
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:21 PM

    This assault on the brain still isn’t as bad as the crap spewed by the GOP.

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    Mute Ryan Anthony
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:24 PM

    Gotta love the Dems…they’re so weak and ashamed of being liberals they are willing to vote for anyone the establishment says is ”centrist”. So you have Hillary going about with progressive language and speeches so another 08 does not happen. When she bashes the too big to fail banks who are funding her campaign they respond to the WSJ’s questions with “don’t worry, we know she doesn’t mean it”…seriously they said that.

    You have a candidate faking working for the voters, a special interest group admitting that they’ve basically got the candidate bought and paid for in a major world newspaper…and yet this person is still the absolute front runner, that’s when you know you have a broken system!

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    Mute tk0CXKzL
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    Aug 7th 2015, 3:36 PM

    so basically idiots who care about the Kardashians are being influenced to vote for Hillary for no other reason than photos with her. So in a round about way, the Kardashians are influencing the vote as to who could have their finger on the nuclear button. This is how crazzzy the world has become

    22
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    Mute Jake Race
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    Aug 7th 2015, 3:27 PM

    Ah crap, now I have to hate Mrs Clinton.

    22
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    Mute Charles Coughlan
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:16 PM

    Kim who…… Why demean yourself hanging around with a wannabe

    20
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    Mute Luke Evans
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    Aug 7th 2015, 2:25 PM

    rampant capitalist tr@mps

    16
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    Mute The Guru
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    Aug 7th 2015, 3:25 PM

    Made out to be a spur if the moment thing. Sad fact is that this has probably been planned for months and even sadder it will probably have a very positive effect for Hilary.

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    Mute Garwig
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    Aug 7th 2015, 3:32 PM

    Bellends

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    Mute Brian Lenehan
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    Aug 7th 2015, 5:26 PM

    Hang on… Fox News hosted a monster two-part Republican candidates debate last night (which may well determine the future POTUS) and The Journal stages a blackout of it. Instead they publish an article about the probable Democrat nominee getting photos taken with a family of talentless attention-junkies?
    The Journal just doesn’t make sense to me anymore.

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    Mute John Reese
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    Aug 7th 2015, 7:02 PM

    Sadly this is what all young air head voters will care about…what celeb is supporting who.

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    Mute Anthony Byrne
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    Aug 8th 2015, 11:05 AM

    FS.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Aug 8th 2015, 12:30 AM
    1
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