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LAST UPDATE | 17 Feb 2021
TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) is set to respond today to queries about the sequencing of Covid-19 vaccines.
He said that it is the government’s view that people who are immunosuppressed or have particular conditions “should be prioritised”.
On the the government’s vaccine sequencing list, ‘key workers’ are the sixth cohort while people aged 18-64 with certain medical conditions are seventh.
Martin was speaking during Leaders Questions in response to Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald TD who had said there is “anger” among family carers for not having a specific place in the vaccine roll-out list.
Family carers have previously publicly called to be classed as key workers as part of the vaccine allocation list.
McDonald said it is “absolutely essential” that family carers are part of the priority list, which she said Health Minister Stephen Donnelly had spoken about being “reconfigured”.
“NIAC, I put it to you Taoiseach, is wrong to have left family carers in that position,” McDonald said.
And I want to ask you as head of government what you propose to do about that? Do you agree with me that family carers need to be recognised and that they need to be given their place of priority in the rollout of this vaccine?
Taoiseach Micheál Martin says that that he “fully shares and empathises” with the plight of family carers and that he “regret the politically charged manner” he says the question was asked of him.
“I didn’t think the Dáil on its own was going to decide on who gets vaccinated first in a political way,” he said, adding that NIAC is looking at this issue:
“The Minister has written to NIAC in terms of looking again at that cohort, and the sequencing of that. My understanding is that NIAC will be responding today to that in terms of the sequencing of those who in NIAC’s view should be prioritised in relation to vaccinations.”
The overwhelming clinical view has been that senior citizens should be the first to be vaccinated because they are the most vulnerable. Equally, however, the Minister and the government have put that request to NIAC to consider the situation, because we are of the view that those who are immunosuppressed or have particular conditions, like Parkinson’s disease and cystic fibrosis, should be prioritised. Clearly, if those people contracted the virus they would be more vulnerable to severe illness and potential mortality.
Carers
One parent who previously spoke to TheJournal.ie about the issue, David Nolan, said his family’s lives have been “in limbo”.
He cares for this three-year-old son Ollie and currently would be in the second-last category to receive a vaccine – those ‘aged 18-54 who did not have access to the vaccine in prior phases’.
There are two main concerns for Nolan and his wife; the first is that Ollie, who has Type 1 diabetes, could contract the virus and become very ill, the second is that they, his carers, could become sick with it and therefore unable to provide his care.
“If he gets sick it’s not necessarily Covid that will be the problem, diabetes is the problem. He was in hospital with a head cold previously because his blood sugar became so erratic,” Nolan said.
“If he has it, he’s at risk of needing treatment in a clinical setting. And if we had it and were sick with it, Ollie would have to enter a clinical setting because of the demands of his care.
If there is even one decimal place in error with his insulin it could put him in a coma. The way I see it is that there are lots of reasons to vaccinate carers, and one is to keep the vulnerable children we care for out of hospital. He can’t get the vaccine, I want to get it so I can protect him from Covid.
TheJournal.ie has sought a comment from the HSE about whether any changes to the vaccine sequencing list is expected.
Antigen tests
Meanwhile, Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) is asking the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) to explore whether there is scope to use antigen testing as part of the easing of visitor restrictions in nursing home.
NHI says that antigen testing is now being used by the HSE in hospital settings and could be introduced incrementally in nursing homes.
“Antigen testing can fulfil an important role in supporting visits in nursing homes, which are informed and guided by public health,” NHI CEO Tadhg Daly said this afternoon.
“Nursing home residents and their relatives have endured great upset due to necessary public health visitor restrictions in the past year. We believe effective rollout of antigen testing should be a priority for NPHET with a view to it guiding and informing the review of visitation guidance in tandem with infection prevention and control measures, risk assessment and safe rollout of the vaccination across nursing homes and broader society.”
- With reporting by Michelle Hennessy.
It makes sense for family carers to have the vaccine…if something happens a carer their might not be anyone else to care for the person..
@Jacqui Curtis-owens: Of course it does but first we need the vaccinations which seem to be in short supply in Ireland .
@Mary Mc Carthy: Would make more sense to get the priority list figured out properly first. Then as vaccine supply increases you just get moving down the list. No arguing, no delays. Family carers were an obvious group that should have been high on the priority list to begin with. That they weren’t even recognised as a specific group from the outset was a bit strange.
@Jacqui Curtis-owens: the problem being there are only X amount available so who gets bumped down the list to bump the carers up the list etc. In an ideal world the vulnerable family members of front line workers would also be high priority but they aren’t. More supply more options.
@Tommy Roche: thank you…im a carer for my 86 year old dad…he has a few underline health issues…..some quite serious…hes getting his vaccination on Saturday….
@Jacqui Curtis-owens: it would make no differance what way they did the list moany lou would find something to give out about.
I care for my sister, age 50, who has Down’s syndrome. I am a sole carer, age 59 and also disabled, on 2 immuno-suppressant medications for chronic rheumatoid arthritis. If I get sick, there is no one to look after her. She has been at home for a large part of the last year, only recently returning to partial day care services. I previously got a high level of respite, but only 2 days in last year. I am exhausted and I live in absolute terror of either of us becoming sick with Covid. I cannot describe how difficult this past year has been. I am not looking to jump the queue before people working in hospitals or much older persons. But I would like to be considered as some kind of priority for the job I do (and do freely as I do not get any carers allowance).
@Paul Whitehead: Paul, this is terrible to read. I hope that you can get more support as the country reopens. are there any voluntary services in your area that could assist?
@Paul Whitehead: im in much the same situation with my dad…what if I became very ill….nobody knows till they walk in your shoes….take care paul
@Sarah Cullen: I have great neighbours. In that I am very lucky. But once covid enters a household, all bets are off.. I’m not sure what I would do if I were sick with covid. No idea who to call or how to get any help. But we have to stay positive – At this stage I’d fly to Moscow for the Sputnik vax!!
@Jacqui Curtis-owens: You too. I know what’s you mean. I try not to go there in my mind as to what would happen if either of us was carted out of here with Covid. She’s 50, but intellectually, she is a young child really. The separation would be devastating for her, esp if she was in a covid ward alone and with no visitors. But I am acutely aware that many families have already gone through this trauma.
@Paul Whitehead: Well you find a clinic in Moscow and I will come with you!! Hopefully once the healthcare workers are fully vaccinated you will have more options should you need them. Keep up the positivity, this will soon be over.
he “regrets the politically charged manner,” he says the question was asked of him.
You mean like asking a bleeding question!
@Daniel O’Leary: A political question within parliament. Wow. The audacity!!!! Lol
Of course carers should be included in the key worker category, they should definitely be ahead of travellers (15% infection rate since the third wave) as should teachers.
The arrogance of him. He can’t tolerate an opposition member of the Dail asking him a question without uttering a snide weasel reply.
@Ronaldo Blanc: Is the list not health authorities who decide who gets the jab? I would imagine she would direct her queries to them.
@sjr: Nah better to score cheap political points
@sjr: So your logic is the leader of the country is not to be asked any questions in the Dail about the biggest issue facing the country in years. Yeah real clever
In relation to the carers being vaccinated due to being essential workers, are they proposing to be vaccinated ahead of adults with long term conditions, including those who are living with the same condition as those they are caring for?
Astra Zeneca isn’t approved for over 70s here so we can use that one.
@The Unstable Genius: I’d take the sputnik or sinoVax at this stage.
@The Unstable Genius: I’d take the sputnik or Chinese vax at this stage.
Most of the essential workers are meeting the public through their work, so the risk to them is far higher than to carers.
I’m 72 with COPD my husband cares for me. I want to know will he get vaccination the same time as me. I couldn’t cope without him
have your say