Mayo medical centre has capacity to administer 1,000 vaccines per week 'if resourced to do so'

The Covid-19 vaccination system is up and running at Tobin Healthcare Centre in Castlebar.

Eight vaccinators are on hand for the public, including Dr. Richard Tobin and Dr. Leo Tobin (dentist), and their team of four doctors, three dentists and practice nurse Laura.

On day one, the team administered vaccines to over 90 patients during the initial 85+ priority age-group under the national vaccine plan and the service is continuing on a full-time daily basis.

“We just notified online booking to our over 100 patients in the 80 to 84-year-old age bracket and were surprised with a 25% response to online booking within one hour, a reflection of the times we live in.

"In reality with the professional capacity we have, we could vaccinate 1,000 per week if resourced to do so,” said Dr. Richard Tobin, adding that the team is very happy to get started on the 85+ age-group vaccines.

He noted that additional space in the healthcare centre car park at the rear allowed for great ease of access for and to patients attending for inoculation, particularly those with limited mobility.

Tobin Healthcare Centre is a privately funded centre providing multidisciplinary care for over 25 years and was a first independent purpose-built primary care centre.

It particularly provides dental, general practice and medical ophthalmology services.

With over 25 years of digital records the centre is ideally placed to administer vaccines in a medically supervised environment.

General practitioners are expected by the HSE to deliver these vital vaccines up to 50% of the population and we look forward to participating and being fully facilitated in that regard.

“Our main constraint in delivering large volumes of these vital vaccines is the limited supply and delivery, which unfortunately does not realise our capacity to administer vaccinations on site,” added Dr. Tobin.