The Chief Bio-Ethics officer with the Department of Health, Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan, has defended the country’s vaccination roll out programme and priority list.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Dr O’Sullivan said that most countries had the same priority policy as Ireland — putting older people and front line workers first.
Ireland’s allocation strategy was based on a limited resource, she said. Decisions had been made on the basis of allocating a scarce resource.
The strategy would be rolled out over time and eventually everyone who wanted the vaccine would get it, but it would take time because of the limited quantities available.
At risk
The National Immunisation Advisory Council (NIAC) had given recommendations to the Department of Health which meant giving priority to those most at risk of dying or getting a serious illness from the virus, she explained.
Dr O’Sullivan said she understood that many people felt anxious and were impatient and eager to get the vaccine. The Department of Health was striving to ensure that they were getting the maximum benefit from a scarce resource, and they were balancing that with the ethical treatment of people.
They had looked at the ethical principles involved, one of which was fairness.
There was very little data about transmissibility of the virus and it was unknown if the vaccine would stop the onward transmission of the virus. As a result of that the Department’s strategy was constantly under review, she said.
