Booster appointments made after HSE 'error' should be honoured, says Pharmacy Union

The HSE informed pharmacies this week that they could provide Covid-19 booster vaccines to over 16s, a message that was later revealed to have been sent "in error".

The secretary general of the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) has said Covid-19 booster vaccine appointments made on Wednesday following information from the HSE, which was since reversed, should be honoured.

On Wednesday morning, pharmacies received information from the HSE that they could provide the booster vaccine for over 16s, including those who had received the one dose Janssen vaccine.

The HSE later stated this message was sent “in error” and pharmacies can provide the booster vaccine only for those aged over 50 years, healthcare workers, pregnant women and those with underlying conditions.

But, in the meantime, many pharmacies had already started to offer appointments for younger age cohorts.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this Thursday morning, the IPU general secretary Darragh O’Loughlin, said: “Appointments had been made for other cohorts and those should be honoured.

“Pharmacies had made the appointments on the basis of information that they believed to be correct.

“It would be a shame to see those people not getting the booster that they had booked,” he added.

Mr O’Loughlin stated the number of pharmacies providing the booster vaccine was growing, from 400 three weeks ago to 700 at present.

He described supplies of the vaccine as “strong” and confirmed the HSE had agreed to additional deliveries over the weekend.

“The lifting of the 15-minute post-vaccine waiting time requirement will also help speed up the process”, he explained.

“People who had not yet booked an appointment with their pharmacy should telephone to see if there now were extra slots because the 15-minute waiting time had been removed.”