16 family members of staff from the Coombe Hospital received the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Government will seek a “full account” of what happened from the Coombe Hospital after 16 vaccines were given to family members of staff.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said that he was made aware on Sunday night of a situation with regard to the administration of vaccines on Friday at the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital.
A statement issued by Donnelly read: “Trust in the vaccine programme is of critical importance and what happened should not have happened.
“Our vaccine allocation strategy clearly sets out a priority list for vaccination – and that’s currently for frontline healthcare workers and residents and staff of our long term residential care facilities.
“It does not include family members of healthcare workers.
“I will be speaking with the Chair of the Coombe Hospital Board for a full account.”
The Coombe Hospital said that by 9pm on Friday (8 January), there were 16 vaccine doses left after 1,100 staff, GPs and local community health workers were vaccinated.
It is believed that if the doses (which were given to staff’s family members) were not administered, they would have been discarded.
It also poses the question as to whether these family members will also now skip the queue for their second dose of the vaccine.
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