Niamh Griffin: Why people think booster rollout has been dogged with problems

Yet, Ireland ranks in the top five for the number of booster vaccines administered in the EU

Over 1.2m boosters have been given, the equivalent of 24.4% of the population, according to the European Centre for Disease Control.

Ireland ranks in the top five for the number of Covid booster vaccines administered in the EU. 

Over 1.2m doses have been given, the equivalent of 24.4% of the population, according to the European Centre for Disease Control.

Some boosters have been rolled out in a pain-free process. GPs have almost completed the over-70s, with 410,800 booster doses administered up to last week.

GPs are also vaccinating vulnerable younger people, using a mix of set appointment times and online booking systems. 

This group of up to 492,000 is expected to be finished by the end of December, with some vaccinated in mass centres.

Up to Monday, 442,840 doses were given in 550 pharmacies, between initial shots and boosters, according to Darragh O’Loughlin of the Irish Pharmacy Union.

The public has responded well to the late entry of pharmacies to the process, with numbers up from 17,698 doses per week at the end of November to 44,727 last week, he said.

Successes of GPs and pharmacies

Ironically, the successes of GPs and pharmacies may be one of the reasons the mass vaccination centre system seems confusing.

GPs have told the Irish Examiner of people coming to them because the time or the location suited better than appointments offered at HSE centres. However, it was not always possible to cancel those appointments at mass vaccination centres, leading to multiple reminder text messages or additional offers. 

The HSE has recently added a 'reject' button to the text message with a range of options. This was not needed in the first rollout as people simply showed up and other vaccine options did not exist.

The HSE has also said there are fewer staff at the centres, with some temporary workers let go during quieter times.

“We clearly don’t have sufficient staff in the vaccine centres,” said Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall.

Just yesterday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Defence Forces will now get involved in the booster campaign, and an extensive recruitment campaign continues, calling on retired staff to return.

Another potential point of confusion is that the initial doses, children’s doses, set to start later this month, and some booster types are different volumes.

This means it is not safe for centres to run parallel clinics unlike in the original rollout when people of all ages got the same jab. It forces them to break up the day into separate clinics.

All of this has fed into a narrative that the rollout of boosters has been problematic, despite the fact Ireland is among the best-performing countries in Europe.