Infectious disease expert hits out at 'confusing' Covid-19 vaccination programme

The vaccine messaging from the government has been 'very confusing', Prof Jack Lambert has said. Picture: A healthcare worker fills a syringe with a dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in the UK.

The Government should appoint one person to oversee the Covid-19 vaccination programme, a leading infectious disease expert has said.

Professor Jack Lambert has criticised the vaccination rollout to date as "very confusing" and said more information is needed.

His calls come in the wake of remarks from Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who said the Government should take early delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine to ensure a rapid rollout when the vaccine is approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the coming weeks.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said he now expects that at at least four million people will be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of September.

The Government expects to receive 3.7m doses between April and the end of June and a further 3.8m between July and the end of September.

This would see at least 4m people vaccinated by the end of the summer once additional vaccines are approved by the EMA in the coming weeks.

At-risk groups and healthcare workers will get the vaccine first, and it is expected that 700,000 people will be vaccinated by the end of March.

Prof Lambert, speaking on RTÉ radio, said there have been mixed messages about the vaccination programme to date.

He said there was concern about distribution of the vaccine as to date only 50% of staff at the Mater hospital, where he works, had been vaccinated.

We want to get this right.

Vaccination clinics had been set up on Wednesday at the hospital, but had to be cancelled as the vaccine did not turn up, he said.

He said there needed to be greater transparency about the roll out of the vaccine, with a detailed map of the plan.

Details such as where the proposed mass vaccination sites will be located should be made public, he said. 

It was not enough to say that GPs and pharmacists would be involved. 

We need a detailed explanation about how it is going to be rolled out.

Prof Lambert said he was getting emails from GPs on the north side of Dublin asking if they could get the vaccine from the Mater hospital.

There needed to be “one person in charge” in the Government, he said, as at present there was different information coming out every day. 

Ireland is behind in its programme while Denmark, a country with a similar population, was “way ahead of us” and the UK was “10 times ahead.” 

“We need someone to stand up and say ‘this is the plan’. It’s really important to get everyone on board with clarity and the plan. It’s going to be very challenging," he said.