The cervical cancer vaccination programme due to begin in secondary schools before the summer break cannot begin unless extra resources are provided by the Health Service Executive, a public health doctor has claimed, writes .
Dr Paula Gilvarry, chair of the public health doctors’ committee of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), said her union had written to the HSE yesterday saying there were risks attached to proceeding with the programme without additional staff.
“We are very concerned about the safety of taking on extra work, without extra resources,” she said.
Dr Gilvarry, who was speaking at a press briefing in Dublin in advance of the IMO’s AGM next month, stressed that public health personnel already had a backlog of an estimated 40,000 neonatal BCG vaccinations to administer as these had been put on hold.