Paramedics 'furious' over vaccine delays

Ambulance workers are 'furious' over their placement in the vaccine roll-out schedule, they told the Irish Examiner. File Picture.

Ambulance paramedics are “furious” that they have not yet received the Covid-19 vaccine, despite its rollout to frontline workers since December 29.

The HSE said ambulance paramedics “will be vaccinated in line with government guidelines" and Siptu said that vaccination of the 2,000 ambulance staff is to begin this week. 

But some paramedics feel sidelined by their exclusion from the first waves of vaccines.

“There’s a lot of anger around it,” one National Ambulance Service paramedic told the Irish Examiner.  

“We’re going out day after day into the trenches.   

Give us the protection we require. We’re not looking for pay rises or bonuses, just the basic protection that is available and that should be given to frontline staff.

The paramedic said that they and their colleagues are “very concerned” about contracting the virus and bringing it back home to their families.  

“I’m scared going into work every day — as I should be, as every health worker should be —because the day you’re not scared is the day you leave your guard down,” they said.  

“I will be handling Covid patients, they will need interventions and for a lot of the work, you’re in the patient’s face." 

The paramedic said that 99% of patients in intensive care will have been treated and brought to hospital by ambulance personnel first.


Yet, non-medical staff in some non-acute hospitals received vaccines before them.

“My colleagues and myself were furious over that.  

The people stuck in the back of an ambulance for three hours with a patient who has Covid aren’t very well protected.

“I’m actually very proud of how the HSE has managed since March. There’s been great work done and the HSE is a good service.

“But if you can’t protect the frontliners, who is going to work on the frontlines?” 

A spokesperson for the HSE said that the National Ambulance Service (NAS) "are working on a programme to deliver vaccinations to their staff, this has commenced in some areas of NAS already."

Miriam Hamilton, ambulance sector organiser with Siptu, said that vaccination of the 2,000 ambulance service staff is to begin this week.

“It’ll be done through a mixture of the acute hospitals vaccinating members of the ambulance service and the ambulance service having their own vaccination teams.

“The NAS vaccination teams are being trained up [tomorrow] and they’ll commence vaccinations on Friday.” 

She said that her members were relieved that vaccinations were starting this week.

“People were very happy that they were going to be vaccinated. No more than anybody, they’ve been scared for the last nine months and this would enable them to go to work without that fear holding over them.” 

No timeline for vaccinating all ambulance workers has been announced as of yet.

Tony Gregg, secretary of the ambulance branch of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, said the HSE has given assurances that the rollout of vaccines to ambulance staff personnel is to proceed which both they and the National Ambulance Service Representative Association welcome.

He added that they would like to see it rolled out as quickly as possible to allow the ambulance service to deliver the vital frontline service it has been providing throughout the pandemic.