Tag Archives: Vaccination

A QUIN man, who has terminal cancer, is to receive his Covid-19 vaccination on Friday and has urged the government do all it can to avoid any repeat of the Beacon Hospital row. John Wall spoke out on the national airwaves over the weekend, following revelations that left-over vaccine doses were administered by the private hospital to some of the staff of a fee-paying school in Wicklow. “I didn’t expect the item to get the time or traction that it did on the Saturday show with Katie Hannon,” said Mr Wall who has stage four prostate cancer. “To be able to put questions and react to the comments of a junior minister was a real, real bonus in terms of highlighting the frustration and anger of those who in Cohort 4 and in 4A, who are really seriously ill, and who cannot get clarity on when or where they will get a vaccine.” Mr Wall said the Beacon story left …

THE start of community-based Covid-19 vaccination for elderly people in Clare who are 85 and older has been described as “historic” by a doctors’ group. The Irish College of General Practitioners, the professional and training body for General Practitioners in Ireland, has welcomed the start of the next phase in the country’s Covid-19 vaccination programme, as GP-led clinics and GP practices begin the process of vaccinating their over 70’s patients around the county. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be administered by 70% of GPs and practice nurses in their own premises. Practices with less than 200 patients over 70 will either buddy with a nearby practice or invite their patients to vaccination centres. Patients will be contacted directly for appointments by their own GPs. Dr Nuala O’Connor, the ICGP’s Clinical Lead on Covid-19, said this is the start of the recovery from Covid-19 for many people, and is an historic moment. “GPs look forward to vaccinating this cohort of …

A BUSY GP practice in Ennis was offered just 200 doses for a total of 1,400 patients, The Clare Champion has learned. Dr Máire Finn, said her practice, which is located on Francis Street, eventually secured an initial delivery of 540 doses and 600 more a fortnight later. “Supply is very poor,” Dr Finn said, “and it’s a nationwide problem. It’s a procurement issue because there is huge demand internationally.” She said that demand had seen a welcome increase this year, in the face of the pandemic. “There is big public buy in and people really want to get it,” Dr Finn noted. “We are prioritising the over 65s and carers for those who are vulnerable. Normally, we would be running massive vaccination clinics, but we can’t do that in the normal way because of social distancing. The thing is that the flu season continues until March. Normally, the advice is to get the vaccine as soon as possible, but …

PRESSURE will increase on already stretched GP-services as a flu vaccination scheme is extended from the middle of next month. While the move to offer free vaccination to children aged between two and 12 has been welcomed in a bid to avoid a second wave of Covid-19 coinciding with an upsurge in flu, concerns have been voiced about the knock-on impact on other services. “If, as we expect, over half a million children are to get flu vaccinations from mid-October, that will mean that hundreds of thousands of appointments will be taken up,” she noted. “Children will have to be Covid-screened before vaccination and monitored afterwards. There is no way that this won’t have a knock-on effect. People will have to wait long for other services and we’d ask them to remember that this for the common good. Children rarely get very sick with flu and this measure is part of a plan to protect older and more vulnerable people …

NEW Clare TD Violet Anne Wynne has distanced herself from previous comments on vaccination. Following her election comments she had made on social media about vaccination were unearthed, but following much criticism, Ms Wynne said her views have changed. “Past comments in respect of the HPV vaccine were old remarks and do not reflect my current views or Sinn Féin policy. “The points that I made previously in relation to vaccinations were not in line with party policy and predate my election as a TD by a number of years. At the time there were a number of people that raised concerns about vaccines and I was simply relaying those concerns,” she said. “I want to make it clear that both I and Sinn Féin support the work of the National Immunisation Office in their efforts to ensure we have a first world public health response to infectious diseases. That is underlined by Sinn Féin’s manifesto commitments to roll out …

AN EAST Clare woman who believes that her son’s severe autism may be linked to vaccines he received in early childhood has launched a campaign calling for all new-born children to be screened for vulnerability to potential side-effects. Valerie O’Shaughnessy from Scariff sought the support of members of Clare County Council who approved a motion calling on Minister Simon Harris to introduce such a national screening protocol. The motion will now go before all other local authorities in the State. Valerie told The Clare Champion that her own experience, combined with ongoing personal research and review of the scientific evidence, has led her to the conclusion that children, like her own son Dara, who have compromised immune systems, are potentially at risk from the administration of live vaccines. “I have a social conscience I have a moral duty,” she says. “And I trying to bring this to the fore because I’m concerned about Irish children. I’m concerned about Irish families, I’ve lived …