Maia Dunphy said she was “waiting for the backlash” after sharing her vaccine news on Twitter.
The Irish telly star received a Pfizer vaccine in the Aviva yesterday after receiving a phone call offering her the jab, which would have otherwise gone unused.
She was accused of essentially skipping the queue by Twitter users who claimed her jab was unfair.
“I didn’t even know you were a teacher,” wrote one user sarcastically.
“Unfollowed swiftly,” another said.
Dunphy explained that while she’d have “preferred it to go to someone vulnerable who’s still waiting,” but that when she was notified of an “unused Pfizer vaccine” she rushed to receive it.
“I’d rather not see any binned.”
“Also, do people think if I’d pulled a fast one I’d have plastered it all over social media?” she joked last night.
Social media users criticised the vaccine system as a whole, condemning that there are any spare vaccines at all.
One Twitter user said: “The whole process is shambolic and ad hoc.”
But Dunphy was quick to reply, “No it’s not!”
“It’s incredibly efficient to call people at the end of the day who live locally to use any vaccines from people who maybe didn’t show up,” she explained.
Plenty of people stuck up for Dunphy too.
“We’re all longing for a return to normality and many of us would love a vaccine to get there faster,” wrote one user,
“But attacking someone for getting a vaccine - won't make your vaccine appointment come any quicker.”
The presenter is 44, so she would have been eligible to register today for a vaccine as the online portal opens to those aged 40 to 44.
