Limerick people 'incorrectly' offered Covid-19 vaccination appointments in other counties

THE Health Service Executive has confirmed a number of Limerick people have been incorrectly offered Covid-19 vaccinations in other counties.

That's according to Limerick TD and Minister of State Niall Collins who says he has been contacted by a number of constituents this week.

"Some bit of an issue arose in the last number of days. I had two individuals onto me yesterday - one from Glin who got a notification to attend to Nenagh and another individual from Ballylanders who got a notification to attend to Ennis," he told Limerick Today on Live 95.

"I followed up with the HSE and the HSE has confirmed to me that they are following up with people who have received a notification to travel outside of the county of Limerick to get a vaccine elsewhere and they are being offered an appointment now to attend the new vaccination centre at the Racecourse in Patrickswell," he added.

It's understood other people from Limerick have been offered appointments at other vaccinations centres at locations including Dublin and Mallow in North Cork.

"It shouldn't be happening. I don't know how or why it happened and obviously people were directed to go to these centres when they shouldn't have been," said Deputy Collins who added that the issue appears to be related to the text-messaging and appointment-scheduling system as opposed to any shortage of vaccines.

"The HSE have told me they are contacting people who have been incorrectly referred to other mass vaccination centres away from Limerick and are rescheduling those appointments to Limerick.

The vaccination centre at Limerick Racecourse opened on Tuesday morning after the previous centre at the Radisson Blu Hotel was decommissioned over the bank holiday weekend.

In a statement, a spokesperson for UL Hospitals confirmed there have been some issues in recent days.

"During the past week, we have been aware of a number of instances in which SMS text message appointment confirmations have directed people to centres other than those closest to their homes. Similar incidents have been reported in other parts of the country over the past few days. We have been working to identify and contact the people who have been affected in our tri-country catchment area in the Mid-West, to assist them with arranging appointments in their local centres," he said.

Anyone who has a query arising from vaccination appointment text messages is advised to contact the national helpline number on 1850-241850.

"We would like to reassure people in the Mid-West that anyone from this region will be accommodated at our centres. We apologise to anyone who has been inconvenienced by such text messages in recent days," added the spokesperson.