Midwives’ jabs ‘suddenly cancelled’

MIDWIVES in our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda say they are devastated after their vaccinations, planned for this week, were cancelled at the last minute, with no explanation and no new inoculation date.

One midwife told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘They told us last week that we were getting the Covid-19 vaccine this week. That reassurance gave us hope to keep going on. Then we just got the message on Monday morning to say that we weren’t getting it.’

The Mail reported last week how some nurses and doctors in the Louth hospital had their jab cancelled. It was suggested that some administration staff there got it before frontline staff.

However, in a statement, the hospital said that under plans developed by the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC), people aged 65 and older who are in long-term residential care (LTRC) facilities are the highest priority.

‘With that in mind, they are being vaccinated and prioritised in the first instance,’ it said, adding that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly had announced plans to ‘accelerate’ jabs for nursing homes.

The HSE said jab allocations to hospital groups for this week ‘have been limited to second dose only (in line with number of vaccines administered in Week 1)’, adding: ‘This is in light of supply of Pfizer-BioNTech being reduced this week by 50%, and the concentration this week on vaccinating residents and staff of long-term care facilities, which hospital vaccination teams are supporting.’