COVID vaccinations got underway at Devenish Practice, Enniskillen, on Monday afternoon with patients ‘hopeful’ that a new dawn is on the horizon after an unprecedented year.
Speaking shortly before Monday’s rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, practice manager, Jackie Owens told the Herald, “We only got the vaccine late last week, so we’re starting this afternoon and we
hope to have all our over 80s vaccinated by the end of Wednesday (today) with the exception of those who are house bound.
“We are still waiting on guidance as to when and how we can vaccinate them.”
While patient response to the vaccine has been a ‘huge success’, Ms Owens revealed that the process and number of vaccines allocated to each GP practice is ‘very much restricted’ despite the size or number of patients registered to each site.
“Unfortunately we have 133 over 80s and only 100 vaccines, so we are very much restricted with the amount of vaccines allocated, how we get them in and when we get them in.
“As soon as we get further supplies we will be contacting those people who are over 80 and have missed out.
“Staff working at the practice have already been vaccinated by the Trust, so thankfully all of our 100 vaccines are going straight to the patients.”
While a change of plan has prompted medical officers to prioritise the distribution of a first vaccine dose to as many people as possible by delaying the second dose, Ms Owens said that services here would continue to follow strict advice.
To read more on this story see this week’s Fermanagh Herald. Can’t get to the shop to collect your copy? No problem! You can download a copy straight to your device by following this link https://bit.ly/3gOl8G0
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere