Covid vaccine latest: University Hospital Limerick nurse first to get jab in Mid West

Staff nurse Rosaline O’Brien this Monday morning became the first healthcare professional in the Mid-West to receive a vaccine against COVID-19.

Rosaline, a County Limerick native who has worked in University Hospital Limerick for 40 years, and as a triage nurse in the hospital’s Emergency Department for the past 27 years, said the arrival of the first batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was hugely encouraging for frontline healthcare workers, who have been challenged as never before throughout the 10 long months of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

“I’m working in the ED for 27 years, and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to get the vaccine. I really wanted to get it, because I think it’s very important to take the vaccine, especially as a healthcare worker. It’s a pandemic, and not just something you can dismiss. It’s been very tough since March. It’s not easy, and it affects everybody all over the hospital. It’s very serious, and I think the only way is to get the vaccine, and move on," she said.

Administering the vaccine to Rosaline this morning was intensive care consultant Dr Catherine Motherway, who said: “After the weekend, the beginning of 2021, which seemed to be full of doom and gloom, we are now starting to vaccinate locally in Limerick.

"We’ve already started vaccinating nationally, and this is, we hope, the beginning of the end of this pandemic. We’re still not there. Everybody still needs to be really, really careful. Keep your distance, wash your hands, stay at home. Really try and stop the current surge, so we can continue to roll out vaccination across our community, our institutional care people, our elderly, our vulnerable, our healthcare workers and our entire population, so everybody gets the vaccine.

"Everybody needs to be alive to get the vaccine, so please be very careful while you’re waiting, and we’re going to get to everyone as fast as possible.”

For Rosaline, Dr Motherway and all who receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, a second dose of the vaccine is required after a three-week period.

The first batch of vaccines was delivered to UHL this Monday, and it is planned to administer 300 doses per day to all healthcare workers in UL Hospitals Group, the HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare Organisation and other healthcare settings.

A network of peer vaccinators has been trained to administer the vaccines to staff, initially to those directly involved in patient care, including nursing, medical, healthcare assistants, allied health professionals and support staff.

Each person who gets the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks will receive a HSE vaccine information leaflet, along with more detailed manufacturer’s patient information leaflet, before getting the vaccine. Afterwards, a vaccine record card is given, showing the name and batch of the vaccine they have received.

Margaret Gleeson, chief director of nursing and midwifery, UL Hospitals Group, and chairperson of the Group’s Covid-19 Vaccination Steering Group said: “We are delighted to be part of the initial phase of what is the biggest vaccination programme ever undertaken in this country. This is one of a number of vaccines which we expect will be available to hospital staff and the wider population over the coming weeks and months; and that they have been developed and approved so soon after the emergence of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV2 is a historic achievement for all concerned. These vaccines are safe, effective and will offer real protection against a disease that has caused so much illness and death in Ireland and around the world.”

Yvonne Young, Project Lead, COVID-19 Vaccination Steering Group, said: “We have been preparing for this day since the approval last month of the first vaccine in Europe. Staff working in critical care, in the Emergency Department, in the Mid-Western Cancer Centre, in the Acute Medical Assessment Unit and in the Acute Surgical Assessment Unit are being prioritised initially. We look forward to rolling out the vaccine across the Hospitals Group and the Community Healthcare Organisation as delivery of vaccines ramps up in the coming weeks.”

Dr Sarah O’Connell, Infectious Diseases Consultant and COVID-19 Clinical Lead at UL Hospitals Group said: “This first Monday of 2021 brings the first administration of the COVID-19 vaccination in our hospitals. While the vaccination is not mandatory, it will be free, and it is recommended that everyone gets it when it is offered to them. Vaccination is one weapon in our arsenal, but a hugely important one, which should reduce the rates of severe illness and deaths caused by COVID-19.”

Colette Cowan, CEO, UL Hospitals Group, said: “This vaccine is giving us new hope at a time when we are entering a dangerous new phase of the pandemic. We look forward to the rollout of the vaccine across the wider population in the coming weeks and months.”