500 pharmacists training to give jabs for swine flu
Around 500 pharmacists have now signed up to a training programme which would enable them to administer the swine flu vaccine.
The Health Service Executive has not yet indicated whether pharmacists will be involved in the planned flu vaccination programme.
However, the Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) said it believed that "it would be prudent to allow as wide a range of health professionals as possible to address the challenges that face us this winter."
A spokesperson said that the IPU would hope that pharmacists would be included in the plan for administration of the swine flu vaccine to the public in the coming months.
"In Portugal, 40pc of all seasonal flu vaccines are administered by pharmacists. In the US, pharmacists have been involved in vaccinations since the mid-1990s," she said.
She said that the one-day IPU training programme covers intra-muscular injection techniques, enabling pharmacists to administer seasonal influenza and swine flu pandemic vaccines as well as travel vaccines. The first training programme got under way this week with more dates scheduled to take place.
However many Irish GPs are likely to argue that their surgeries are best placed to administer the vaccine.
The first 30,000 doses of swine flu vaccine will arrive here next week. However they cannot be used until October when European safety tests on the drug will be completed.
Earmarked
More supplies of the vaccine are expected and the main groups earmarked for protection -- health care workers and people under 65 years with medical conditions -- will be first to receive the injections in mid to late October.
The rate of swine flu has remained at a sustained low level and there are no signs of an upsurge. However, a second wave is expected to emerge during autumn and winter.
fdillon@herald.ie
- Fiona Dillon
