Concerns have been raised over the speed of the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine to those most at risk from the virus.
he Royal College of GPs (RCGP) in Northern Ireland has raised issues over the programme with the Department of Health.
It comes as health officials have begun to vaccinate people between the age of 65 and 69, while some GP surgeries have not finished vaccinating patients over the age of 80.
Trust vaccination centres are using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, while GPs are administering the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and family doctors have expressed concerns over delays in delivery of the vaccine they are using.
Earlier this week, the Department of Health announced plans to accelerate the roll out of the programme by tasking trust vaccination centres to administer the jab to people aged between 65 and 69.
They will also offer the vaccine to some clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) patients, such as transplant and cancer patients.
Dr Laurence Dorman, RCGPNI chair, said the organisation is fully supportive of the principal of vaccinating as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.
He said it is encouraging to see such a high demand for booking portals for the 65 to 69-year-old portal.
“However, we have concerns about the speed of vaccine rollout to those people in higher priority groups,” he continued.
“GPs and their teams stand ready to roll out the vaccination programme to those aged 70 and over, including those patients who have been identified as clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV), however this rollout is entirely dependent on a steady, reliable supply of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Our main challenge is ensuring GPs receive vaccination supplies as quickly as possible, otherwise those people in the more vulnerable age and clinical categories will be waiting longer for protection against Covid-19.
“We also have concerns that patients, who are understandably anxious for information, are phoning their GP practices trying to determine when they, or their loved ones, will be called for their vaccine.
“This is additional work for practice teams, who are working as hard as they can to maintain GP services, while taking forward the vaccination campaign.”
Dr Dorman continued: “We have raised these issues with the Department of Health and hope that supply delays will be resolved so that GPs can get on with the job and give people the protection they need from Covid-19.
“We urge everyone to be patient. GPs, trust vaccine teams and officials in the Department of Health are working to protect as many people as possible and while challenges remain, we are hopeful that all of our patients will be vaccinated soon.”
Dr Dorman also reminded the public that due to the demands as a result of the vaccination programme, some routine GP services may not be available.
