Nearly 22,000 sign up for vaccines after portal opens to 64-year-olds

Nearly 22,000 people registered on Friday for a Covid-19 vaccine appointment through the Health Service Executive’s booking portal.

The online appointment system opened on Friday for registrations from people aged 64, while 63-year-olds will be able to register from Saturday.

By Friday evening 172,890 people had registered for a jab through the portal since it went live on April 15th, of which 21,865 signed up on Friday.

The vaccination of people aged 65-69, with or without underlying medical conditions, began earlier this week. A spokeswoman for the HSE urged anyone in these age groups who had not done so already to sign up for the vaccine online or over the phone. As vaccine supplies are limited, it is not yet possible to give an exact appointment time for everyone.

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Dr Denis McCauley, chairman of the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP committee, said family doctors are “unfortunately” having to answer a lot of questions about the AstraZeneca vaccine, even though they are not administering it. People aged 60-69 are receiving their doses at mass vaccination centres, while the rollout for the over-70s is continuing in general practice and on target, Dr McCauley said.

“There have been some people ringing because they didn’t want to take AstraZeneca for whatever reason. They thought they could change it for a different one, so there has been some confusion because of mixed messaging,” Dr McCauley said.

The level of sign-ups through the portal is “good”, he added, and “people are voting with their feet”.

‘Top class’

Dublin resident Laurence Joyce (68) said his experience of the appointment system and vaccination itself was “top class”.

Mr Joyce was invited to sign up for a jab via the online booking system from last week.

“From my experience it worked well, and I was very impressed with the efficiency and the organisation,” he said.

Mr Joyce signed up via the portal late last week and received text confirmation on Thursday for an appointment the following day.

“The vaccine people are getting bashed left, right and centre, but from what I can see they don’t have much control over the delays. They are just having to respond to these things,” he said, adding that credit must be given where it is due.

Mr Joyce was “relieved” to get the vaccine, despite the spotlight on very rare clotting events that are potentially linked to the AstraZeneca jab.

“I trusted the medical experts and the statistics,” he said. “I’m a person who has to take tablets and if I stopped to check the small print I probably wouldn’t be taking them.”

Many of his friends in the United Kingdom have been inoculated with AstraZeneca, and none of them experienced serious side effects, he said.

“I suppose everybody would like to get the Pfizer one because it seems to be the one where there are no question marks at all,” he added.

The vaccine portal opens for 63-year-olds from Saturday and will take registrations from those aged 60-62 in the days after. Alternatively, people can call HSE Live on 1850-241850 for assistance with the registration process. The HSE has stressed that there is no hurry to register immediately and the system does not operate on a first come, first served basis.