Vaccination reminder: in Ireland, half of the appointments are not honored
Vaccination with a dose of Pfizer / BioNTech against Covid-19 on the University of Dublin campus, March 20, 2021. AFP - PAUL FAITH
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The country opens its anti-Covid-19 vaccine booster campaign for those over 50.
But the government is worried: nearly half of the appointments to receive a third dose have not been honored in recent weeks.
However, this is not the reflection of a lack of motivation on the part of the population.
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With our correspondent in Dublin,
Emmeline Vin
"
The Irish are less motivated for the third dose than for the first and second
", according to Prime Minister Micheal Martin.
An innuendo that irritates Mick Fox.
“
I received an SMS with the date of the appointment but I was not available, he is
indignant.
The text message read "
if you want to reschedule, answer 'new'.
I replied, and I received another text message telling me that the system had not been able to take my request into account.
It's hard to hear yourself say that you don't honor appointments when you can't cancel.
"
Other Irish people wait hours on the phone to cancel.
Or receive appointments when they have already received their three doses, with their doctor or in a pharmacy.
Recognition problem
"
If someone takes their third dose at the pharmacy, we put the information into our database,
" said Darragh McLoughlin, spokesperson for the pharmacists' union, at the microphone of Irish national radio.
But when this information is centralized, the national system cannot recognize that the person no longer needs an appointment at the vaccination center and this appointment is not automatically canceled.
"
The Irish healthcare system has announced an update to its systems and promises improvement in the coming weeks.
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Read also: Covid-19: in Ireland, new restrictions to deal with the Omicron variant
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Ireland
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