Health

Ineligible man repeatedly offered Covid booster shot while family are ‘gagging’ for jab

Mick Cowman offered six appointments for extra dose despite having had Covid recently

Mick and Louise Cowman had Covid-19 recently so are ineligible for a booster shot but have been offered numerous appointments by the HSE. Photograph: Alan Betson

Marese McDonagh's face
Marese McDonagh
Fri Dec 10 2021 - 01:00

The texts from the HSE have kept rolling in for Mick Cowman. The retired public servant has been invited for a booster vaccine six times since December 1st, including twice on Wednesday.

But he is unable to attend as he had Covid-19 two months ago and the advice recommends a wait of six months after infection before receiving an extra jab.

With case numbers having been so high in recent months, Cowman believes there are probably “tens of thousands” of people like him who are being perceived as no-shows at vaccination centres.

The Dubliner wonders why this is happening, given he should be recorded on a HSE database as having tested positive for the disease in the not-so-distant past.

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The 68 year old is married to Louise, a kidney transplant recipient who is immune suppressed. She has also had to reject a booster invitation because she had Covid-19 at the same time as Mick. “Yet she received an email complaining that she had not showed up for the booster,” he says.

Cowman, who previously worked at Dublin Institute of Technology and the Ballymun Partnership, says he was taken aback by the Taoiseach’s comments this week about vaccine “no-shows”.

“I think Micheál Martin is a decent man but it annoyed me that he was putting out these figures as if the public was in some way being lax,” he says. “The suggestion seemed to be that there was no urgency there, but I have family and friends who are gagging to get the booster.”

‘Frustrating’

Cowman says it is frustrating that the only option he has in response to the HSE texts offering appointments is to reject. He has been unable to explain why he has rejected and receives a text in reply saying he will not be contacted again. But then he is.

He says he tried using the HSE website to explain his status, but was told it was unable to recognise his email address. He has also tried calling to explain his situation but has not managed to connect.

“If their IT system can’t simply note that I don’t want an appointment because I had Covid, I question the figures given by the Taoiseach. He should also question the HSE IT system and the data he is being fed,” he says.

The Cowmans say one of their concerns is that what happens now might affect their chances of getting their boosters when the time comes. “I want the system to know that I do want my booster when the six months is up,” he says.

If 10 per cent of the 300,000 people who had contracted Covid-19 since June are in the booster age group, and if some of these have received a number of texts, that is a lot of wasted appointments, he says.

“I felt Micheál Martin was more or less saying we all needed to pull our socks up, but what is needed is a more user-friendly system,” Cowman says.

Coronavirus