Waterford, Ireland / WLR
Jan 19, 2021 9:57 AM
A number of hospitals in the south of the country have received and administered a disproportionately large number of Covid-19 vaccines, relative to their size.
The Irish Times reports that more than one-third of doses given up to last Tuesday were administered in hospitals run by the South/Southwest Hospital Group in Waterford, Cork and Kerry.
This is despite the group being only the third biggest of the seven hospital groups, by number of employees.
Figures obtained from the HSE show that the group had administered 19,840 vaccine doses by last Tuesday, and 22,000 by last Friday.
Construction workers at Kerry hospital receive vaccine
Updated / Monday, 18 Jan 2021
19:32
The hospital confirmed that ten construction workers at the acute hospital have been given the vaccine
Construction workers at University Hospital Kerry in Tralee were given the Covid-19 vaccine the hospital has confirmed.
The administration of the vaccine to the builders working in the hospital was ahead of psychiatric healthcare workers in the community, in Killarney, and residents and patients at facilities like the Deer Park mental health facility near the town, the monthly meeting of Kerry County Council a meeting was told on Monday.
The hospital has now confirmed that ten construction workers at the acute hospital have been given the vaccine.
Our hospitals are overrun every January, but this time it is different and worse than any trolley crisis.
Other years there was no deadly virus to contend with and circulating in communities, forcing hundreds of patients to intensive care and thousands of healthcare staff out of work.
Patients have gone from waiting on trolleys in corridors a year ago to last week waiting in ambulances in the hope they will eventually get in to a hospital.
Letterkenny University Hospital general manager Sean Murphy drafted an apology for patients last week who had to wait in ambulances because of pressure on staff and beds. These were not just Covid-19 patients but people with other surgical needs. Just because Covid-19 is raging it does not mean other illnesses are not occurring.