Some doctors are reporting there is still “huge concern” among patients about the AstraZeneca vaccine in spite of the ruling on its safety by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Dr Paul O’Keeffe of Broadale Surgery in Maryborough, Cork. said he is glad he using the Pfizer vaccine because at the moment AstraZeneca is a “hard sell” with the public.

“We ran our second vaccine clinic today, and everybody [who came in] was of the opinion ‘thank god it is the Pfizer’. On reception during the week people would have been asking what they were getting. There is huge concern trying to convince the public on Astrazeneca.

Hospital Report

“With all the drama around Covid I feel with Astrazeneca it would be a tough sell. You are going to have that long discussion with a patient,” Dr O’Keeffe said.

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“[We are] trying to convince them that it is safe. You would also have your own concerns as a few cases were reported. However, if the EMA are saying it is safe of course you would go with that.”

You do not need any negativity around the vaccine process when you are trying to get it over the line, Dr O’Keeffe said, adding GPs and the public are naturally frustrated about the lack of a free flow of vaccines.

“Every GP feels like that. We would have it all done quite easily if we had the vaccines. We have the database in front of us. We know who we have. It is just a case of getting the vaccines out there. It is slow and painful.”

“I understand the fact that the Government are having difficulty sourcing it and all the rest of it like every country,” Dr O’Keeffe said, adding “situations like in the nursing homes where people died for the sake of getting vaccines – that could have been preventable”.

“The vaccinations here are going like clockwork. We did 60 this morning and 40 the first day, and they all were done in one morning. We could get 120 done a day if people had access to it.”

He added that the relief for the elderly patients when they receive their vaccine is palpable. “They are finally able to leave their guard down a little bit after cocooning for so long. For many of them it is their first day out in weeks or months. It is a great feeling for them and for us.”

Elsewhere, Dr Nick Flynn, who is a partner with mycorkgp.ie and has several practices in Cork city, said they are fielding large numbers of calls on the Astrazeneca vaccine even though they are administering Pfizer products.

“We have had 100 per cent uptake of the Pfizer vaccine. What we are finding though is that there is an increase in the number of queries – people who had the vaccine with us ringing to see what vaccine they had and requiring reassurance.

“I will give you an example of how this could impact on GPs. On a normal Monday we would deal with 450 to 500 phone calls. One day two weeks ago the calls went up to 850, and that was around the messaging of ‘contact your GP if you are under 70 and in an at risk group’,” Dr Flynn said.

“We saw a 60 per cent increase in our phone calls in that one day. I don’t have the stats yet this week, but I think this news on AstraZeneca would have increased our call volumes.”

Dr Flynn said it is his impression the over -70s and vulnerable groups are so at risk from the virus that this temporary blip on AstraZeneca will not stop them from getting vaccinated.

“But in other vaccine-hesitant groups of healthy people a lot of them won’t take it. If you are 25 or 35 with no medical problems you might decide to wait for something else,” he said.

“There is very little Nphet or the HSE could do [around AstraZeneca