Vets could soon be helping vaccinate the public against Covid-19, the Irish Mirror has learned.
They are in talks with the HSE to give out the life-saving jabs after Veterinary Ireland contacted the Government to offer their services earlier this month.
Its chief Finbarr Murphy said last night: “Practitioners have always responded positively at times of national crisis.”
The Department of Health is exploring avenues to get as many medical professions as possible on board ahead of millions of vaccines arriving in the country.
A senior source said: “The Taoiseach wants enough people ready to administer the vaccines and inoculate the public.”
There are currently 3,054 practitioners and 1,097 nurses registered with the Veterinary Council of Ireland.
A spokesman for Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: “The minister, in conjunction with the HSE and vaccination taskforce, has been working on plans to scale up the vaccination programme.
“A range of proposals and options are under continuous consideration to ensure that the vaccination programme has the required number of trained vaccinators at each stage.”
Dentists and the national ambulance service are among two other groups the Government is in contact with as part of the drive to train up medical personnel.
A spokesman said: “The HSE has been in discussions with qualified groups such as the St John Ambulance about taking part in the vaccination rollout, as well as dentists.” A spokesman for the Irish Dental Association added: “Dentists have the experience needed for such a role having already played a key part in administering other vaccination programmes in previous years.
“The Irish Dental Association has received indications from the HSE that dentists may well be involved in this vaccination rollout, but this has not been confirmed.”
Mr Donnelly confirmed in the Dail yesterday that dentists are included as healthcare workers in the vaccination programme.
HSE boss Paul Reid said nearly 5,000 people have completed training sessions to administer vaccines.
And it’s understood that 3,600 GPs will be lined up to give the jabs out to the public and 1,500 pharmacies will also be prepped to facilitate the process.
A HSE source added: “There is no restriction on the amount of vaccinators that can be trained as training is available online.”
The Army will also be involved in the national vaccination programme.
Mr Donnelly confirmed that up to Wednesday night, a total of 121,900 vaccines have been administered – 73,100 to frontline healthcare workers and 48,800 to staff and residents of long-term care facilities.
