‘We demand our vaccination now’
Pharmacists abuse staff at Cork centre as they turn up without appointment
A ‘LARGE group’ of angry pharmacists turned up at a vaccination centre without appointments and demanded to be vaccinated.
On Friday evening the irate pharmacists entered Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork and refused to leave the stadium, which was being used to administer vaccines.
The HSE’s vaccine liaison for pharmacists, Louise Creed, sent an urgent email, seen by the MoS, to all community pharmacists in Cork urging them to leave the centre.
Ms Creed told the pharmacists that they would only be vaccinated ‘once they have been issued with an appointment for same by the HSE’.
While a large number of pharmacists are now vaccinated, the remainder will be done as part of cohort six on the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) sequencing plan.
The first four cohorts are being vaccinated which includes the over-70s, frontline healthcare workers and those aged between 16-69 who are medically vulnerable. Pharmacists who are trained vaccinators are continuing to be vaccinated. The email noted that ‘a large number of pharmacy staff turned up at the clinic today without appointments’.
‘I am disappointed to hear that some of these were abusive to vaccination staff and refused to leave unless they were vaccinated. Vaccination staff were very upset by this. The attendance of a large amount of people without appointments has disrupted the running of the clinic and placed extra unnecessary stress on vaccinators,’ wrote Ms Creed.
A pharmacist source explained to the MoS that on Friday morning one pharmacist who received a vaccine appointment posted details of it in a pharmacy WhatsApp group.
‘When GPs were being vaccinated, all of their staff were as well but now they are only vaccinating some pharmacists. It’s very unfair that they are creating a hierarchy among pharmacists,’ they said. The source said angry messages were being exchanged about the lack of information over when they would be vaccinated.
The email from Ms Creed noted that ‘many of the attendees referenced “Whatsapp” groups which told them to attend’ and she called on them to urge the pharmacists via the Whatsapp groups to leave the centre.
‘If any of your staff are amongst those currently refusing to leave the clinic, I ask that you contact them and ask them to leave immediately. If possible, I ask that you message on these Whatsapp groups informing staff that appointments are only issued through official HSE channels,’ she said.
The heated incident came in the wake of the Irish Daily Mail revelation that 20 teachers and staff at a private school in Bray received excess jabs following a vaccination clinic on Tuesday.
Figures provided by the HSE at their weekly briefing on Thursday showed that 218,989 first doses of the jab had been given by March 22 to frontline workers and 89,910 second doses.
A HSE spokeswoman said last night it simply wasn’t possible to vaccinate people who arrived without appointments. ‘We have been vaccinating healthcare workers at Páirc Uí Chaoimh over the past two days, by appointment. Healthcare workers eligible to be vaccinated have been invited to register on a specific online portal for healthcare workers… which creates an appointment for them.’
‘Creating a hierarchy among pharmacists’