A RURAL GP has warned of "pandemonium" for practices forced to select which over-80s receive the new Covid vaccine - and hit at out the "blank" communication about supplies.
Dr John McSparran, who is based in Cushendall in north Antrim, said he assumed that information about deliveries of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine would be given prior to its rollout at the beginning of this week.
All GP surgeries were told in a letter sent by the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) in November to be ready to vaccinate the over-80s not living in nursing homes from January 4.
However, Dr McSparran said he only became aware on Monday morning after hearing a media report that 30 practices - there are more than 300 across the north - were taking part in the initial rollout.
The medic said he had been inundated with phone calls from patients anxious to receive the jab.
He also questioned the criteria used to select those 30 practices and said he repeatedly sought information from health authorities yesterday on the issue.
In a statement to The Irish News last night, a HSCB spokeswoman said a letter would be sent to all GPs by "close of play" and that surgeries "will be able to order the vaccine" from January 6 and "commence the vaccination of patients over 80 and their staff".
However, when asked about supply concerns, she said that further vaccine supplies are "anticipated" in the middle of this month to ensure that all over-80s will be offered doses "in the near future".
She added they had "trialled the service with a small number of practices" to ensure "the wider rollout is as seamless as possible".
But the Co Antrim GP, who has more than 200 patients over the age of 80 in his practice, said the supply issue meant he will have to choose some patients over others.
"We were told in November by the board to be ready, to have a list of patients ready to be vaccinated on January 4," Dr McSparran said.
"We've been inundated with calls asking if we have the vaccine. Attempts to get information have been met with a complete blank, nobody seems to be able to help us.
"There clearly won't be enough to cover all 80-year-olds in the first batch so we're going to have to organise some type of lottery to try to decide what 80-year-olds get and which don't. Can you imagine the chaos that's going to result? I don't think they have any concept of the pandemonium this will cause."
The Department of Health last night confirmed 397 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine were deployed in 13 GP surgeries on the first day of programme's roll out on Monday, which they said will be a "game changer".
A "first consignment" of around 50,000 doses has been received and "more practices will begin delivering it next week".
“Towards the end of January we will have vaccinated all of the over 80s who wish to avail of the vaccine and then we’ll progressively roll it out to the over 75s, the over 70s and the clinically extremely vulnerable. Our aim is to get the vaccine into the arms of our most vulnerable as quickly as we possibly can," a department spokesman said.
