Some KPMG staff working with the Health Service Executive (HSE) have received the Covid-19 vaccine, the consultancy firm has confirmed.

A spokesman said “a number of” KPMG staff working with or supporting the HSE on the rollout of the vaccine have themselves been vaccinated.

“These staff members are required to work on-site across multiple hospitals supporting clinical staff and, as such, were vaccinated in accordance with the HSE protocols,” he said.

Hospital Report

KPMG is one of a number of consultancy firms brought in by the HSE over the past year to bolster its response during the pandemic in areas such as contact tracing and vaccine rollout.

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Under the Government’s vaccine implementation plan, over-65s in long-term residential care are prioritised first for administration of the vaccine, followed by frontline healthcare workers.

Due to constraints on vaccine supplies and the large number of outbreaks in hospitals, nursing homes and other residential settings, the vaccination of these two groups is not complete, and plans to inoculate the next priority group, the over-70s, are likely to proceed slower than forecast.

Earlier this month, the HSE issued guidance clarifying that among frontline workers, priority in vaccine administration should be given first to staff “whose work involves direct physical contact with people who use healthcare services”.

Next priority should be given to healthcare workers “whose work does not involve direct contact with people but does involve contact with potentially infectious blood or body fluids or human remains in a controlled environment”.

Responding to queries from The Irish Times, the HSE did not confirm that vaccines had been administered to KPMG staff but a spokeswoman said: “It is reasonable and within current clinical guidance that front facing administrative staff in a vaccination centre or other high risk settings will be vaccinated.”

She said the “sequencing” guidance issued earlier this month underlined the importance of ensuring staff referred for vaccination reflected the order set out in the document “to the greatest extent that is practical”.

The guidance was issued after the Coombe hospital in Dublin administered vaccines to 16 relatives of staff, including two children of the master, Prof Michael O’Connell, on January 8th. This group is due to receive their second dose of the vaccine around now.

It later emerged that two relatives of staff at the Rotunda hospital also received doses left over after vaccination, as did 10 construction workers at University Hospital Kerry.

The Coombe board later ordered an independent investigation of the incident, which is under way.