Cork GP: Ireland should donate Covid-19 vaccines to developing countries
President of Irish College of General Practitioners, Dr Mary Favier. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
The Covid-19 pandemic has "unmasked" issues such as poverty, inequality, and access to education in Ireland, and these will need to be properly addressed in the future.
That's according Cork GP and Nphet member Dr Mary Favier, who said that the world's most vulnerable and disadvantaged people have been those "most challenged" by the coronavirus.
Speaking on , the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) President said that it behoves a country like Ireland, which has an international reputation for giving to charity, to donate vaccines to the developing world.
“It’s a pragmatic thing to do — nobody’s safe until we’re all safe," she said.
Reflecting on how people's lives have changed since the first Covid-19 death in Ireland on March 11 of last year, Dr Favier said that almost everyone in the country would have been affected by the death of a loved one or friend at this point.
She said that she had three close friends lose their parents to the virus and that four of her patients had also died after contracting it.
“We’ve learned to understand things like 14-day moving averages and positivity rates," she said.
"There’s been a huge change for us personally, professionally and in our society,” she said.
Asked how her work as a GP has been altered, Dr Favier said that while the most profound impact had been on patients, Covid-19 had forced GPs to work in a completely different way.
“So much of our work now is done on the telephone. The doors are closed and you come in by appointment."
Dr Favier spoke of the “remarkable resilience” shown by health service workers, essential workers, and members of the public.
She said people should rightly feel a sense of optimism around the commencement of vaccinations for people over the age of 85 earlier this week.
While it was likely the country would be living with Covid-19 for some time to come, Dr Favier said that vaccines would help change things for the better.
The Cork GP also said that funding and structural shortcomings within the country's health service, particularly public health, had been exposed by the pandemic.
“Those infrastructures need to be embedded and resourced," she said.
"People in the service are run ragged trying to keep us safe, and those types of things need to be looked at," she added.
