The mass vaccination centre at Galway Racecourse at Ballybrit is to be used to issue the winter flu vaccine to healthcare workers in the west.
The facility has been used solely to issue the Covid 19 vaccines to tens of thousands of people over the past few months, but the Regional Health Forum was told this week that it will also be used in the battle against the winter flu.
In response to a query from Cllr Donagh Killilea about the need to make maximum use of the vaccination facility, Saolta Chief executive Tony Canavan said that they have been looking to creatively use the facilties at their disposal, especially in light of the forthcoming flu season.
"We have looked at our mass vaccination centres to see if they can vaccinate healthcare workers for the flu this winter. Some of the staff in Ballybrit will be deployed to vaccinate staff in hospital; from Galway city in the coming weeks.
"We expect Community Healthcare West staff to attend to Ballybrit for their flu vaccination programme. We are coming up with solutions that are a good fit for the requirements in this region," he said.
Cllr Killilea had said that the presence of the vaccination facilities around the west were a powerful tool at the disposal of Saolta and that he hoped they would be looking at these centres with a view to enabling the roll-out of the winter vaccines.
"I am hoping that you will look at ways in which the flu vaccine can be rolled out with the same efficiency as the Covid vaccine," he said.
Mr Canavan said that while he agreed, it is a much more complicated scenario.
"The network of GPs in the region play a key role in vaccination in general including the flu jab which people have become familiar with. They played a key role in the Covid 19 vaccination. and I expect the GPs will continue to play a key role in vaccination programmes.
"That being said, we acknowledge that it may be possible for other vaccinations to be carried out at these centres. We are looking creatively how we can utilise these vaccination centres in coming months," he said.
