FIRST VACCINES FOR CO WEXFORD
BETTER days are ahead. That was the message from Chairman of Wexford County Council Ger Carthy as he rolled up his sleeve and received his Covid-19 vaccination on Thursday afternoon.
In his work with the national Ambulance Service, Cllr Carthy knows better than most how under pressure our health service has been in the past year and continues to be as we negotiate a pandemic the likes of which we haven’t seen in our lifetimes.
As an Ambulance Officer with responsibility for national critical care retrieval, Cllr Carthy received his vaccination along with other members of the National Ambulance Service in Dublin and said it was a major moment in the battle against Covid-19.
‘I was sitting with the Director of the National Ambulance Service afterwards and we were just saying that it’s great to finally see this day,’ Cllr Carthy said. ‘Frontline staff have been through a lot since February and while this is not a silver bullet yet, it’s certainly heading up that road.’
Cllr Carthy explained that having received the first of two jabs, the vaccine will be 90% effective after 12 days. When he gets the second injection after 21 days, it will give him 100% protection.
‘I had absolutely no doubt it taking it whatsoever,’ he said. ‘It removes some of that fear factor that you’d have of contracting Covid. In my situation, with my political and professional work, you’d be coming into contact with people all the time and it’s great to have that piece of mind. I know there are hundreds of thousands of people who would love to be in the position to get it, but we’ll get there. Frontline staff need to be vaccinated so that they can help others.’
‘I know the roll-out of the vaccine seems slow, but it’s so important to get this right,’ he continued. ‘ This has never been used before and we’ve a bit to learn, but it’s all moving in the right direction. The health service, behind the scenes, is working at an unbelievable rate to get this across the line. There are logistical problems, but this is a massive operation and I’d like to say well done to all of the HSE staff rolling this out in Wexford and across the country.’
In recent times, we’ve seen a rise of ‘anti-vax’ protesters, who are keen to discredit the Covid vaccine and urge others not to take it. Most recently we saw signs expressing these views hung from the railings of our hospital. Cllr Carthy is sharp in his dismissal of these viewpoints.
‘Look I wouldn’t even listen to those people and their nonsense,’ he lashed. ‘As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one show in town and that’s the vaccine. The sooner we get it rolled out to as many people as possible, the sooner we can get back to some kind of normality.’