Statement by the Irish Pharmacy Union

Friday, 25 November 2011 18:08

The IPU welcomes the conclusions of the interim report of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland that the public can have confidence in the vaccination service provided by pharmacists.

The vast majority of pharmacists who have been trained administered the vaccine correctly. Equally, the vast majority of patients were given the correct dose. Those that administered the incorrect dose followed the incorrect instructions given during a small number of training programmes. Regrettably this resulted in some patients receiving an incorrect dose. Those patients are now being recalled and will be revaccinated shortly. The error was identified and reported to the relevant authorities by pharmacists.

Patients can have every confidence in the skills and competencies of pharmacists to provide this service safely. The IPU and its members will continue to co-operate with all statutory authorities in taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure that an error of this nature never occurs again in any training programmes provided for healthcare professionals.