DOCTOR BROUGHT VACCINES HOME
Coombe says that ‘mistakes were made’ in report on jabs
A CONSULTANT at the Coombe hospital took Covid vaccine doses home from the hospital to vaccinate his own family, an independent report has found.
In all, 16 vaccines were given to one or more family members of eight Coombe staff members.
The hospital board said last night it accepted that ‘mistakes were made’ and it was ‘disappointed’ that the private vaccinations had occurred. It also said it took the findings ‘extremely seriously’ and has passed on a copy of the report to the Minister for Health.
Back in January, the Coombe apologised when it emerged that family members of staff had been vaccinated. The board asked barrister, Brian Kennedy SC, to conduct an independent review.
Of the 16 family recipients, nine were over 70 and the remaining seven were of varying age. A doctor, only identified in the report as ‘Consultant B’, took two vaccine doses home and administered them to two family members after a conversation at the hospital with a ‘Consultant C’.
‘Lessons will be learnt’
The report said that the senior medic Consultant C was aware that his colleague was bringing vaccines home. Consultant’s C own children were also vaccinated at the hospital and he had a major influence on the decision to vaccinate family members.
Once it was known that there were leftover vaccines, Consultant C considered ‘seeking to get candidates from the nearest Garda station or fire station. Consultant C indicated that they were concerned about consent procedures, as well as a lack of knowledge of medical history,’ the review found.
Mr Kennedy said that the decision to vaccinate family members ‘emerged from a relatively short and informal conversation’ between 11 people before or around 9pm that night. ‘No one who was present indicated any disagreement, nor have any of those present suggested that they were coerced or pressurised into the decision,’ his report adds.
In a statement, the Coombe said that prioritisation guidelines were followed at all times ‘save for 16 doses administered to the families of some hospital staff on the night of Friday 8th January’.
‘These doses were administered after hospital personnel formed the view that no other frontline staff were immediately available for vaccination. It said that ‘notwithstanding mitigating factors, the board accepts that mistakes were made, not least in the decision to vaccinate family members and, in one case, in the administration of two vaccines offsite. Lessons must and will be learnt to ensure that similar issues cannot recur.’