FDYS states workers were correctly prioritised in HSE vaccine roll-out
FDYS CHILDCARE WORKERS VACCINATED AS SECTION 39 WORKERS
WHEN Labour Party leader Alan Kelly stood up in the Dáil last week and spoke about a Wexford childcare facility that may have ‘put pressure on the HSE’ to get staff vaccinated, it put the cat among the pigeons. There was a flurry of calls from media outlets to the HSE as they sought clarity on the alleged case of ‘queue jumping’.
While the childcare facility was not mentioned by name in the Dáil, it can now be revealed that the source of the apparent controversy was the vaccination of staff members at childcare facilities operated by the Ferns Diocesan Youth Service (FDYS) in Wexford.
The organisation, however, has pointed out that as a Section 39 organisation (a community agency provided with funding under Section 39 of the Health Act), its workers were covered on the vaccine priority list and thus were included in the roll-out last week.
An FDYS spokesperson dismissed claims that undue ‘pressure’ was placed on the HSE to deliver vaccines to its childcare workers as ‘absolute rubbish’, noting
‘we are absolute minnows in the national picture’.
‘Section 39 organisations have been prioritised and that’s what been done,’ the spokesperson said, frustrated at the week’s events. ‘Our staff were vaccinated as Section 39 workers to protect the vulnerable communities that they are working with.
All staff of Section 39 organisations across the country were requested by the HSE to register their details for prioritisation of the vaccine. To support this national campaign to protect service users from across Ireland’s most marginalised communities, we complied with this request. FDYS is proud to serve those most at risk, and continues to provide quality services throughout this pandemic.’
Despite this, Labour TD Brendan Howlin revealed a conversation he had with Chief Executive of the HSE Paul Reid last week, in which he was told that it was ‘a mistake’ and that FDYS workers employed in the childcare setting ‘shouldn’t have been included’ in the vaccinations. This was a point dismissed by FDYS who resented any kind of implication of wrong-doing on their end. Deputy Howlin said: ‘It was just a mistake. The point is we can’t have different treatment for different people. People need to have confidence in the vaccine roll-out.’ He further acknowledged that the situation was by no means the fault of any of the workers vaccinated, but was rather a teething issue with the roll-out.
‘I’m not blaming anyone for this,’ he said. ‘Everybody wants the vaccine. A specialist group determines the sequence in which it’s administered. I think we need absolute confidence in the roll-out. Mistakes can be made and what we need to ensure is that no pattern develops and that we recognise mistakes when they happen. The people involved took their vaccine in good faith.’
Both Deputy Howlin and Cllr George Lawlor fielded a number phone-calls last week from childcare professionals, angered that workers at HSE funded facilities had been deemed more of a priority for a vaccine, while those working in a private childcare setting would have to wait a number of months to receive theirs, falling at number 11 in the priority list.
Eleanor Connolly, who runs Eleanor’s Preschool and Afterschool in Coolcotts was upset by the decision taken by the HSE to vaccinate some childcare workers, but not others.
‘It seems that the workers (in FDYS childcare services) were vaccinated under the HSE regulations,’ she said. ‘But there is no provision for childcare workers on that list. It was supposed to be section 38 and 39 workers.
‘It should be rolled out as it was meant to be, but instead it seems the rules are being bent. Their workers aren’t any way superior to mine. We all work in the same sector which carries the same risk.
‘My staff now feel like they don’t matter as much as those that operate under the HSE. We should all be the same. We all follow the same guidelines and we’re all regulated by TUSLA. I’m fuming. I’m disgusted. I’d like to see the vaccine roll-out brought forward for all childcare settings equally. As you know, it’s a setting where it’s impossible to have social distancing and there’s no such thing as cough or sneeze etiquette.’
This anger and frustration was shared by Elaine Dunne, Chairperson of the Federation of Early Childhood Providers.
‘What we want to know is at whose discretion were these vaccines allocated,’ she said. ‘Surely there is protocol to be followed here. If you give it to one provider, it should be rolled out across the whole sector. What about the rest of us? We’ve been fighting for this since June. We’re operating in a workspace where you can’t social distance.’
Ms Dunne, however, was keen to stress that this was in no way an attack on those childcare workers who had been vaccinated, but a criticism of the HSE for the manner of the roll-out.
‘I should add that I’ve no issue with the people who received their vaccine,’ she said. ‘ They are the lucky ones in many ways. My issue is with the HSE. I’d like to see childcare workers bumped up the list. We’re currently at number 11 and it could be months before we’re vaccinated. We will be opening up fully on March 8 and will be nearly back to full occupancy. It’s a big issue and nobody is talking about it. If we don’t open, we don’t get our funding. People are under huge pressure and we’re high risk.
‘It would be nice to be given a choice and respected enough for people to realise that the nature of our job means we’re up close and personal with kids. That would be much easier and a lot of the anxiety would be gone if the option was there for vaccines. We don’t want to take them from anyone else, but it’s very disappointing to have a situation where services are being given vaccines (in this manner). It seems that it was all in the interpretation of what a section 38 and 39 worker is.’
Having spoken to a number of disgruntled childcare professionals, Cllr George Lawlor said that the utmost clarity was required going forward.
‘Nobody has any objection to people being vaccinated,’ Cllr Lawlor said. ‘But it has to be fair and transparent and in line with the national roll-out or people will get fed up and lose confidence in the whole system. We’re all delighted to see the numbers of people vaccinated going up, but we have to be fair to others working in the childcare sector too. They will have to wait months. It’s not fair that one childcare setting seems to have been prioritised over another.’
In an official statement, the HSE explained ‘Group 2’ vaccinations are currently being carried out for ‘all frontline hospital and community based healthcare workers’.
‘ This includes those directly employed by the HSE, those in HSE and HSE-funded organisations, private hospital or clinics and community based, not-for-profit or private healthcare providers not directly funded by the HSE.’
Addressing the vaccination of childcare workers under this grouping, the HSE spokesperson said that: ‘ whereas employees of childcare providers are part of groups due for vaccination at later stages, there are various (non HSE) agencies in the disability services, youth work and family resource sectors whose employees may be involved in aspects of childcare work as it relates to particular services and other community supports offered by those organisations.’
However, perhaps throwing things slightly back on the management at FDYS, the statement concluded: ‘ There is an expectation that each such entity, in its provision of candidates for vaccination, ensure adherence to criteria as frontline healthcare workers.’
FDYS maintains that details of all of their candidates for vaccination were furnished to the HSE in advance and were approved. Several other Section 39 organisations were also vaccinated last week.
MY STAFF NOW FEEL LIKE THEY DON’T MATTER AS MUCH AS THOSE THAT OPERATE UNDER THE HSE. WE SHOULD ALL BE THE SAME