Covid highlights difficulty in reaching vulnerable groups

Dr Margaret Fitzgerald, HSE public health lead for social inclusion, said: 'Covid has highlighted the inequalities in our society and how hard it is to reach our vulnerable groups.'

Adopting a “bespoke” response and engaging early and directly with vulnerable groups helped to reduce the spread of Covid-19 and manage outbreaks.

That’s according to Dr Margaret Fitzgerald, HSE public health lead for social inclusion, who told a seminar hosted by the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group that a similar response will be needed to vaccinate the homeless, Traveller and Roma communities, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, and victims of domestic abuse.

“Covid has highlighted the inequalities in our society and how hard it is to reach our vulnerable groups,” Dr Fitzgerald said, adding that a targeted response and partnering with community groups, such as the Safetynet, Peter McVerry Trust, and Pavee Point, helped to reach these groups during the pandemic.

Covid-19 presented challenges, she said, and required setting up special hotels or providing extra caravans to enable people to isolate, as well as establishing a "humanitarian" type of quarantine in Dublin to accommodate new asylum seekers arriving into the country or other people who “don’t fit” the mandatory quarantine system.

The number of Covid-19 deaths in the third wave was higher among the Traveller and Roma communities and those who were single and homeless, Dr Fitzgerald said, adding that these groups were prioritised for vaccination.

Rolling out vaccines to vulnerable groups involved GPs, mass vaccination clinics, and a “third way” that is being worked through.

“There are two streams to be rolled out, one through general practice and the other through community mass vaccination clinics and we have argued for a third way. And we are working through the third way at the moment,” 

Dr Fitzgerald said the first Janssen single-dose vaccines were being rolled out to homeless groups in Dublin on Wednesday.

UCC professor of public health Ivan Perry said the multidisciplinary approach adopted to reach vulnerable groups highlighted the need for greater investment in local public health departments to facilitate this type of work in the future.