Vaccinating certain groups first? April 6, 2021
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.trackback
I’m genuinely curious what people think of the reworking of the government vaccination programme.
It was announced on Tuesday that the National Vaccination Programme is to be changed to an age-based system, once those aged 70 years and older, the vulnerable and people with underlying conditions are immunised.
Speaking at the time, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it was a better way to roll out the vaccine and would simplify the process once more vaccines arrive later in the year.
This has, quite naturally, received a dusty response from Teachers unions and other groups. I think I’m somewhat more in favour of frontline groups – medical staff, teachers, Garda, etc, getting the vaccine first, but what is the general feeling on the issue?
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
I think frontline, then move to age groups is fine. Is this some kind of electioneering move or something?
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Interesting, hadn’t thought of it like that.
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I suppose I’m looking at it from the perspective of TD’s getting inundated with vaccine queries/requests. Frontline workers is a demo that I would imagine is relatively small, and might be a bit of a write-off vote wise after the last year. But over 65’s?
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There were certainly strong lobbying moves in Italy up til last week when the policy changed back to the age-group stratification.
Ahead of the 70+ age group, hospital, university and care-home staff,teachers and cleaners, police and armed forces, secretaries and receptionists were all getting vaccinated with just-qualified lawyers,politicians and banking staff (but not supermarket or transport workers). You were nobody if you couldn’t say you had been vaccinated!
To put it in perspective, only 16 people in the 80+ age group were vaccinated last week in Tuscany and 14 in Umbria.
Public outcry in the mass media seems to have forced the government to back-track to the original age-stratification strategy.
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In principle, frontline groups first is right. But when you look at the stories of hundreds of people not turning up for vaccination because they were double-booked, you begin to see the practical problems. Of course, the Department of Health ought to have spent the last year devising a system for reaching everybody once and once only, but clearly they didn’t.
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Incredible, isn’t it? A year to prepare.I’m not one to diss the public sector gratuitously, but this is one area that has been very lacking.
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Personally I think the system of vaccinating frontline workers first makes sense in terms of an expression of societal solidarity with those who have taken risks during the past year in order to keep services operating for the rest of us, whether that’s teachers or gards or shop workers or whoever. About teachers specifically, the in-house teacher here has pointed out that it’s not worth getting worked up over as the summer holidays will mean that most teachers will be vaccinated while the schools are off regardless of which system operates, and that it will be a bad PR move by the teaching unions to make a big deal about this and that balloting for industrial action will just send the anti-union sentiment out there into overdrive. There’s been enough anti-teacher sentiment during the pandemic, so no need to fight a battle on this one when in effect it doesn’t actually matter because come September they’ll be vaccinated either way.
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I have an under 40 teacher neighbour living with two older parents and would love her to get vaccinated before me even if I had to work at home for the rest of 2021. I am not sure there’s huge capital to be gained by the unions by pushing this too hard either.
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That’s interesting AM, I heard precisely the same argument too re ‘it’s not worth getting worked up’.Without question there’s been a lot of anti-teacher sentiment, and the IT particularly is responsible for that, but far from alone.
That said at a minimum those who are vulnerable in teaching cohorts could be addressed. I guess the one positive is that the vaccination does appear to be moving more speedily forward and the outline of when it will be encompassing most adults is actually sooner than I’d expected (fingers crossed).
I feel exactly the same EO’M.
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To use one of Trump’s formulations, you could shoot a teacher on O’Connell Bridge, in full view, and the reaction of the general public would be ‘sure haven’t they three months holidays?’ I listened to some phone ins today and read a few online comments and the picture is plain: Irish people hate teachers. There’s one on the other end of my sofa, who felt vaguely appreciated during the first lockdown when some first-time homeschoolers were saying ‘teachers – I don’t know how they do it!’ Just wait til your next pay campaign I said. Didn’t even have to wait that long. Merely wanting to protect your health and requiring the government to keep its promises is provocation enough.
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Same situation with nurses. All in this together, till we’re not. The antipathy towards teachers always baffling though. You’d think a group of people who, in the worst perception, look after the nations children 3 to 8 hours a day would get more respect.
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