Kate Ryan was “delighted” to emerge from her cocoon on Easter Sunday for her first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
The Dublin resident was one of more than 2,000 people with serious underlying conditions due to receive their first dose at the Aviva Stadium over the Easter bank holiday weekend.
Ms Ryan, an outpatient of St Vincent’s Private Hospital, is awaiting a liver transplant. She “just cannot go out” while the virus is still circulating, she said.
She had a “little bit of a reservation” about getting the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, given the attention it has received in the news lately, but she felt reassured of its benefits and was “100 per cent” happy to have received it.
She will have to wait 12 weeks before getting her second dose of the vaccine, and is hopeful she may have a new liver by the time she returns to Lansdowne Road.
“Covid has slowed things, for obvious reasons … I hope in the meantime I will have gotten the transplant. That would be amazing,” she said.
She is aware she cannot let her guard down. “I won’t be able to do anything really at the moment, because you have to wait for the second dose to be fully protected,” she said. “Obviously with my condition I have to take extra care and there is only so much I can do from an energy point of view.”
“But it is great to look forward to 12 weeks’ time and this being all done,” she added.
No choice
For those under the age of 70, there was no choice of vaccine on offer at the Aviva Stadium, with all getting the Oxford-AstraZeneca, according to vaccinator Joan Love, a nurse. At the centre, which has been running since March 3rd, a medic will chat to any patient who needs “that little bit of reassurance” regarding the vaccine’s safety. The “vast majority go ahead”, she said.
“The science would reassure you, and I would have no problem taking AstraZeneca,” she added.
In recent weeks people with additional needs, such as those with cerebral palsy or Down syndrome, have been “overall delighted” to receive their vaccine at the stadium in Ballsbridge, she said.
“You have to take the extra bit of time with them, but on the whole they were delighted to get it. They were so proud to get it and wear their ‘I got my Covid-19 vaccine with pride’ badges.”
Roy Connolly (51), a front-line support worker at St John of God Community Services, felt he could finally see “light at the end of the tunnel” after receiving his first dose of the vaccine.
“We have been cooped up for over 12 months now, so I suppose this gives you a bit of hope,” he said. “The quicker this [vaccine rollout] goes, the quicker we can all return to normal.”
Asked if he was nervous receiving the vaccine, he said he had “full confidence in the professionals … They are not going to just throw anything into you, let’s be honest.”
