Sir, – On December 15th, the chief executive of the HSE announced that it had just selected an IT provider to administer the “digital process” underpinning the vaccine rollout. The system covers appointments, the administration of the shots needed, ongoing monitoring and reporting after vaccination.
In addition to advising that that a backup IT system would be ready to support the first wave of vaccinations if the full system was not ready to deploy on time, he mentioned that the HSE was working on a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) of the project, and was in dialogue with the Data Protection Commissioner.
If the eyes of any organisation’s technology preparation are a window to the soul of its overall readiness, we can only conclude that the HSE urgently needs new glasses. – Yours, etc,
PAUL REARDON,
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Dublin 9.
Sir, – I am delighted to hear that Covid 19 vaccinations are beginning. But I am concerned the public is not getting full transparency about the important details of the rollout plan.
I heard Prof Brian MacCraith speaking about the rollout on two separate radio programmes yesterday. In both cases, he could tell us the name of the first person to be vaccinated, their age, the number of grandchildren, and even the occupation of one of the grandchildren.
But when asked how many vaccinations would be completed today, Prof MacCraith would only name the four hospital locations where vaccinations would take place. He went on to say that 500 vaccinations would be completed in each hospital across three days of this week. What wasn’t made clear is that this amounts to 100 vaccinations in each location on Tuesday, 200 more on Wednesday and the final 200 on Thursday, for a total of 2,000 across all four locations this week.
To establish public confidence in the rollout there should be a plan published at the start of each month which specifies for each day of the month the physical locations and the numbers of vaccinations that will be administered in each location.
It’s not necessary for us to know the names and family circumstances of individuals being vaccinated.
It is critical that we all know vaccines are being delivered and administered as speedily and efficiently as possible across the country.
FINTAN REDDY,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.