Vaccine row as two hospitals in Dublin give jab to staff relatives
TWO family members of health staff at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin have received Covid-19 vaccines which it says would have been wasted otherwise.
It followed news that 16 family members of staff in the Coombe maternity hospital also were given the vaccine earlier this month.
The two family members at the Rotunda are believed to be in a “vulnerable group”.
The hospital said it received its first batch of 93 vials of the Pfizer Biontech Covid-19 vaccine on January 6 for administration to its staff.
Each vial contains six doses, and the statement said “every one of these six doses were administered to staff working at the Rotunda”.
“At the end of the first day of administration of the vaccine, the Rotunda’s dedicated vaccine administration team noted a small amount of vaccine remnants in a number of vials that had been reconstituted, following administration of the approved number of six doses per vial,”itsaid.
“In other words, there was excess vaccine in some vials. These remnants would have expired within a number of hours if not used and would have been discarded.
“Rather than wasting any vaccine whatsoever, and following immediate discussion with leadership at the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC), the Rotunda requested expressions of interest from the local community, who could attend the hospital within an hour, prior to expiry of these vaccines and who would be willing to accept these unapproved vaccine remnants.”
Thirty-seven people, including local GPS and members of other vulnerable groups, agreed to attend and to avail of the non-approved vaccine remnants.
“The Rotunda is of the view, and is supported by NIAC, that this was the morally correct thing to do and a wholly appropriate response in the setting of a pandemic, such that no vaccine was wasted and the maximum good was achieved,” said the hospital.
“It must be noted that even if Rotunda staff could attend at short notice to receive the vaccine remnants, the hospital was not approved to administer it to them.
“Equally, the 37 non-rotunda personnel who received the vaccines did so in the full knowledge they were receiving a non-approved vaccine remnant.”
Irish Further Education Minister Simon Harris has raised concern about the lack of clear protocols around “spare” vaccines.
He said he was concerned that 16 vaccines were given to family members of staff of the Coombe.
“The idea that we had spare vaccines, albeit we had just 16 in this case, is a concept that I find hard to understand, because of course there isn’t spare vaccines,” he said.
“Either this is a situation in place where there is a protocol about what you do with so-called spare vaccines and that wasn’t followed, or more concerning if there isn’t a protocol in place.”
He welcomed the apology from the Master of the Hospital, Professor Michael O’connell, last night.
According to the hospital, the decision was taken so that no vaccine would go to waste after workers and those it has been tasked with administering the first dose had got it.
The hospital would not give details about the family members who got the vaccine other than to say there were 16 of them — nine were over the age of 70 and seven were “of varying age”.