By Michael O’Farrell
TENS of thousands of the most vulnerable pensioners, who have not been able to leave their homes since March, may miss out on early vaccination because of strict rules on how the jab is given.
It is expected that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will attach stringent rules on those administering the first doses, including that they have anaphylactic shock training.
Suitable resuscitation equipment will also have to be on hand in the event of an adverse reaction.
The restrictions are likely to limit the number of health staff who’ll be able to vaccinate and the number of settings in which it can be given.
This means elderly people who cannot leave their own home are unlikely to receive the first Pfizer vaccine, even though they have been prioritised for treatment in the first roll-out next month.
‘My fear is that, as part of the first wave, it might be impractical and not feasible, logistically, to vaccinate home care clients,’ Joseph Musgrave, the CEO of Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI) told the Irish Mail on Sunday last night.
The 80 HCCI members across the country care for more than 20,000 people who cannot leave their own homes. But that’s just a portion of the many elderly and disabled people who are due to be prioritised for the vaccine, under the Government’s plan to be announced next week.
There are more than 120,000 people aged over 80 living in their own homes, many of whom are disabled and unable to leave.
Mr Musgrave said he’d been assured that home carers, as health workers, would be among the first to be vaccinated, but he remains concerned. ‘We are talking about home care clients who are amongst the most vulnerable people in our society,’ he said.
‘Many have been cocooning since March and have had very limited social contact. We know if we limit social contact for people with dementia, you’re taking away their human rights. That’s what’s happened.’ Mr Musgrave criticised the lack of engagement about this issue from the health authorities.
‘It’s a complicated problem to solve and I don’t see the thinking or the consultation going into how to solve it,’ he said. He also pointed to a difficulty over informal carers which many families use privately to augment official care but who would not show up on any formal vaccination database.
He said his fear is that because they don’t talk to the home care sector, they are not aware of the complicated issues involved.
