Northern Ireland

Concerns raised about hundreds of 'empty slots' for Covid-19 vaccine

The chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) in the north said he was aware of "630 empty slots" in the Royal Victoria Hospital vaccination centre yesterday morning.
The chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) in the north said he was aware of "630 empty slots" in the Royal Victoria Hospital vaccination centre yesterday morning. The chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) in the north said he was aware of "630 empty slots" in the Royal Victoria Hospital vaccination centre yesterday morning.

Concerns have been raised about hundreds of unfilled booking slots for the Pfizer vaccine.

It comes amid criticism by doctors about a decision to delay second doses in order to vaccinate the more vulnerable with their first jab.

Dr Tom Black, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) in the north, said he was aware of "630 empty slots" in the Royal Victoria Hospital vaccination centre yesterday morning.

"I received a call from a vaccinator on Sunday evening who was told not to go the next day as there wasn't enough work. So there's huge number of empty slots and vacccintors told not to come in. I am also aware of GPs who have given up trying to be vaccinators due to the cumbersome bureaucratic process."

Robin Swann, Stormont's health minister, said it was misleading to suggest there were "hundreds" of unfilled vaccine slots.

"The online booking system is actually one for all the trusts, so those slots build up very quickly over time and they fill very quickly over time," he said.

"We are also aware of administration issues with healthcare professionals volunteering to be vaccinators... but there are protocols. It's making sure people who are trained properly to do it.

"I said from the start there would be bumps along the road. This is a national vaccination programme. Pfizer got its approval early December, the Oxford AstraZenaca vaccine - which is the one we think will make the big difference - got its approval a week and a half ago.

"We got a number of our GPs up and running last week, the rest of our GPs received it today. To date, over 90,000 people have been vaccinated."

The minister confirmed plans to extend the opening hours of vaccination centres - they currently operate from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week - but stopped short of committing to operating round-the-clock.

Two further consignments of the Oxford vaccine will be delivered this month.

"We've been running our seven regional centres since December and as we get access to more vaccines we will increase our hours. It’s a piece of work we’re already looking at. Will we go 24hrs? I’m not sure. The thought of going out at 2am or 3am may be attractive to some but whether it’s actually practicable on a full-scale operation at the time of the morning is another thing.

"So, when we have our supplies of vaccines we’ll be doing all we can to make sure we’ll do as many people as possible receive it. My hope is to have phase one (over-80s, care home residents and frontline) completed by mid-February so we can move to phase two which will be those over 75 and then the clinically vulnerable. This group should be completed by early March."

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