GPs 'roaring for more supplies' of flu vaccine, says Cork doctor

Dr Mike Thompson who has set up Ireland’s first drive-through flu vaccine clinic at the Market Green Retail Park, Midleton, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

A shortage of flu vaccines to meet surging demand this winter has left "every GP in Ireland roaring for more supplies", it has been warned.

Ireland's first formal drive-through flu vaccine clinic, established by Dr Mike Thompson, is to open in Cork this weekend — but a shortage of vaccines has meant activities at the centre have already been scaled back.

The army has erected a marquee for the drive-through clinic, which Dr Thompson said could serve as a template for vaccination centres across the country.

However, he has found accessing adequate supplies of vaccines so difficult that he has already been forced to cancel one day at the pop-up clinic.

“We can’t run the clinics without vaccine supplies,” he said.

The HSE did not provide extra vaccines for the clinic, Dr Thompson said, so he and three other GPs working this Saturday will pool their resources to deliver the 540 vaccines they have at the clinic in Midleton.

“It’s a difficult situation,” he said. "We need big supplies quickly — but we’re only getting dribbles, and we can’t run clinics on that.

“And the longer we drag it out, the more we increase the risk."

Dr Thompson has received 190 vaccines over two deliveries, but he is hoping for more next week. He has 970 patients who are eligible for the vaccine.

Despite the current shortages, he is confident that the most vulnerable groups should be vaccinated before peak flu season kicks in.

“There has been phenomenal demand," he said. "Normally we can access private stock in addition to HSE supplies, but this year none of the local pharmacies have any extra. The HSE seems to have brought up all the stock in Ireland."

Dr Thompson said that while he would recommend everyone get a flu vaccine, supply restrictions may make that impossible this year.

HSE stock has been ringfenced for more vulnerable patients: the over 65s; pregnant women; all healthcare workers, including administrative staff; those with long-term illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and asthma; children aged 2-12; and those in close contact with someone with a long-term condition.

“Normally we have lots of guards, teachers, SNAs, coming for the flu vaccine," he said. "But this year, most of those people can’t get it.

“Breaking that habit is not ideal, but I am confident that everyone who really needs the vaccine will still get it.

“The southern hemisphere has had less flu this year, and measures like social distancing and handwashing will help, so I hope that will provide some extra protection."

Pharmacists can also administer the flu vaccine this season, but Rose Murphy, who runs a pharmacy on North Main St in Cork City centre, also said that supplies were severely restricted.

“It’s crazy, really,” she said. "There’s unbelievably high demand, but we have to vaccinate the really needy first, and everyone else has to go on a waiting list. The year that’s in it, we should be vaccinating everyone that wants it really.

The Irish Examiner phoned a number of pharmacies, none of which currently had enough stock to sell the flu vaccine privately, although one of those pharmacies did say that more vaccines were expected tomorrow and they may be able to facilitate a private vaccination then.

Chief clinical officer of the HSE, Dr Colm Henry, said that 1.4m injectable vaccines for adults, and 600,000 nasal vaccines for children aged 2-12 were ordered.

"Last year, in contrast, we purchased 1.2m, of which 1m were administered," he said at a HSE briefing. "Based on demand we are seeing, this year is a higher uptake.

“I know there are people out there who are not in the high-priority groups who want to avail of the vaccine. We purchased the vaccine specifically for those high-priority groups — frailer people, those with chronic disease, pregnant women, healthcare workers — that’s the purpose of the vaccine.

“Yes, there were some supplying difficulties in that first batch as the demand exceeded the initial supply, but we will be closing down on those in the third batch by, hopefully, the middle of October."