MINISTER WARNED OF FLAWS IN JABS BOOKING
Vaccine portal was shut down TEN days after Donnelly told it was being abused
HEALTH Minister Stephen Donnelly was told people were exploiting the HSE’s online portal for staff vaccines – in order to jump the queue – ten days before it was taken down.
A link to the online HSE system for arranging the frontline vaccinations was shared, with guides on how to dupe it into believing you were a healthcare worker.
The link was removed from the site shortly after it had been shared – but not before a
concerned citizen flagged it to Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan, on March 12, and included a link to the portal. That warning email was forwarded to Minister Donnelly, who responded that it was a matter for the HSE.
The Irish Daily Mail has previously revealed how the HSE’s online portal for arranging frontline inoculations was not robust at checking vaccine candidates’ identification. And the Irish Mail on Sunday was able to make a booking through the portal, and received a vaccination appointment, which it cancelled, and alerted the HSE to the system’s vulnerability.
The HSE has since closed the portal which could be accessed by anyone who had the link, and it did not require a password.
HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid admitted yesterday that some people had used the link to jump the queue but claimed the number was ‘marginal’.
The Mail can also reveal how a post on a Reddit Ireland page, which has 371,000 members, contained instructions on how to exploit loopholes in the system by posing as healthcare workers to book a vaccine appointment.
Some even boasted, on the site, that they duped the system into believing they were healthcare workers. It was widely shared on other messaging apps and in internal private company emails, with whistleblowers telling the Mail they knew of people who abused the system.
Correspondence obtained by this newspaper shows that a concerned constituent contacted Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin Bay South Mr O’Callaghan after seeing the Reddit post.
In an email on March 12, the constituent wrote to Mr O’Callaghan with his concerns and included a link to the portal.
‘I wanted to alert you to a link I have seen floating around the internet, which seems to allow people to register for a vaccine without being invited, or being eligible. I tried registering myself to test it, and got an email inviting me to register my details and get an appointment. At this point I logged out and emailed you,’ he wrote.
The constituent included the link to the portal in the email.
He told the Mail: ‘I have pre-existing conditions that make me more vulnerable, and I’m annoyed that they changed the rollout to put me further down the list’. He said the site wasn’t secured so that people didn’t skip the queue.
‘I played fair and alerted them about it... It’s really maddening,’ he said.
On March 16, Mr Donnelly replied to correspondence, thanking Mr O’Callaghan for raising ‘a potential breach of the Covid vaccination scheme’ but said it was the responsibility of the HSE. Mr Donnelly forwarded the email to the HSE’s Parliamentary Affairs Division for a response.
‘Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual,’ he wrote.
On March 25, the HSE’s Interim Chief Information Officer Fran Thompson replied to Mr O’Callaghan, saying the link was ‘not designed for the general public’ and that ‘a portal for the general public will launch shortly’. He said ‘validation’ takes place before inoculation to ensure a healthcare worker’s bone fides. However, HSE whistleblowers confirmed this did not always take place.
A day after Mr Thompson’s response the portal was closed, though not all healthcare workers had been vaccinated. Neither Mr O’Callaghan nor the HSE replied to a request for comment last night. HSE chief Mr Reid told yesterday’s press briefing that the HSE was seeking to strengthen the ‘validation process’ to stop this kind of abuse. A spokesman for Minister Donnelly said last night: ‘The minister’s office receives up to a thousand PQs, emails, reps and messages a week. All correspondence is dealt with and matters raised with the HSE where appropriate.’ Labour Party leader Alan Kelly told the Mail the issue was ‘very serious’ and that the Taoiseach Micheál Martin needed to consider the minister’s ongoing performance. He said: ‘We now know that he [Mr Donnelly] was made aware that the portal was not fit for purpose, that people registered who shouldn’t have. ‘He knew about the problem for some time but he didn’t see the seriousness of it, why didn’t he deal with it and why did it take so long before it was taken down?’ he said. Mr Kelly said the minister could not ‘wash his hands and say this is a HSE issue’ and he insisted it was the minister’s responsibility. ‘He’s in charge, serious issues with the portal and how it operates were flagged to him and he did nothing about it because he says it’s the HSE’s issue, that it was not his responsibility. It is not a stance a minister should be
‘I got email inviting me to register’ ‘A matter for the Taoiseach’
taking in a pandemic above all things,’ Mr Kelly said.
‘He needs to make a full statement on this immediately and I would be asking the Taoiseach to look at the performance of Mr Donnelly over time, following another example where he has failed to realise how important issues are that are brought to his attention.’
The latest HSE figures, released yesterday, show that almost 235,418 frontline healthcare workers received the first dose of the vaccine. However, there are just 80,000 frontline healthcare workers employed by the HSE.
Other private-sector healthcare workers, such as those in private hospitals, private nursing homes and section 38/39 organisations, as well as therapists, GPs and their staff, all count as frontline healthcare workers. The HSE has been unable to clarify how many people they think are eligible for vaccination in this cohort.
The Chief Clinical Officer of the HSE said the numbers of frontline workers vaccinated ‘seemed high’ earlier this week.
A new online portal for the public to book their vaccinations is due to go live in three weeks.
Mr Kelly said this controversy places the project ‘gravely in doubt’ and a complete overhaul is needed in a 21-day period.