Vaccination of teachers, SNAs, and support staff at special schools was 'an error', says HSE

Patients receiving their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at the HSE Vaccination Centre in the Aviva Stadium. Picture: Leon Farrell

The vaccination of teachers, special needs assistants (SNAs), and a number of support staff at special schools at the Aviva Stadium this week was "an error", according to the HSE.

Staff at a number of special schools in CHO6, comprising Wicklow, Dun Laoghaire, and Dublin South-East, which includes Health Minister Stephen Donnelly's constituency, were vaccinated on Tuesday by appointment at the stadium.

It comes as teaching unions voted to ballot members on potential strike action unless the Government reverses its decision on changes to the vaccine rollout programme.

In a statement, a HSE spokeswoman said staff were vaccinated in the belief they fitted into the category of frontline health workers under cohort 2.

"These staff work with children with disabilities, many of whom are in the very high or high-risk categories, and some support these people in residential and respite settings," it said.

However, they should not have been vaccinated as part of cohort 2, though the decisions to do so were made in good faith. 

"We apologise for this error."

Fórsa, which represents SNAs, has called on the Government to clarify how the decision was made.

The union said the development was welcome and said it wanted to see a nationwide rollout "from the health minister’s constituency to special school-based SNAs nationwide".

Last week, the union asked the Government to review its decision to remove SNAs from the Covid-19 vaccine priority list and to include them under ‘category 9’ of its revised vaccine schedule. This category includes people aged 16 to 64 who work in crowded settings.

In a letter to Taoiseach Micheál Martin, the union’s head of education, Andy Pike, said that SNAs work in crowded settings where social distancing is not possible.

“There are few other groups outside health and social care who work on a consistent basis providing intimate care without the ability to maintain social distancing," said Mr Pike. 

"In special schools, healthcare staff like nurses, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists have all been vaccinated, whilst the SNAs who work alongside them have not."