Government urged to honour vaccination plan for dental teams

The dental profession has called on the government to stick to its vaccine plan for dentist.

Mr Fintan Hourihan, chief executive of the Irish Dental Association (IDA), welcomed the government’s plan to involve dentists in the delivery of COVID-19 vaccinations.

These will be undertaken alongside GPs and also pharmacists.

Time is of the essence

‘The IDA has been advocating for this for weeks, so we welcome [health] Minister Donnelly’s comments,’ he said.

‘The inclusion of dentists in the vaccine rollout is positive news for the entire population. We await conversations with the Department of Health as to how this will work.

‘But dentists are willing and ready to take part now and time is of the essence.’

Essential healthcare

However, he urged the government to honour plans to have all category 2 healthcare workers – dentists included – vaccinated by the end of February.

He said it is ‘critical’ that dentists receive the jab as soon as they can.

‘The HSE has told the IDA that it is confident that it will have sufficient supplies of vaccines to complete the first dose of vaccination of category 2 healthcare workers, including dental teams, by the end of the February,’ he said.

‘Their predictions are not contingent on the approval and delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine. According to the HSE, the second doses will be provided within the first three weeks of March.

‘It is critical that dentists are vaccinated as soon as possible, so that they can assist fully in the delivery of vaccines to the public and continue to offer essential healthcare as they have done since the start of the pandemic.’