This is maddening.
Since they spend so much of their time coming into contact with people whose immune systems are weakened by sickness, it would make sense for Irish healthcare works to be inoculated against the the flu virus.
Unfortunately, a scheme to provide flu vaccines for healthcare workers has been horrifically unsuccessful, with fewer than one-in-four healthcare workers actually availing of the opportunity.
According to the Healthcare Protection Surveillance Centre, 43 out of 61 known Irish hospitals (including 7 private ones) had responded to the scheme.
Uptake from staff in these hospitals was never more than 47%, and as low as 7% in some hospitals. This means the average level of uptake was 23.7%.
This means there has been almost no increase in uptake since the year before, when uptake was 23.4%.
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