WELCOME: Barth Flynn has welcomed the new vaccine priority list

EXCLUSIVE

By Sean Moriarty

A local kidney patient has welcomed the Government’s changes to the COVID-19 vaccine allocation priority list which was updated on Tuesday - saying it's "far more comprehensive".

It now means all organ transplant recipients and people on dialysis aged 16 to 69-years-old are moved to cohort 4 consistent with their medical risk.

Kidney transplant patients affected by COVID-19 have 20 percent mortality rate according to research by The European Society for Organ Transplantation.

Barth Flynn (37), attends dialysis at University Hospital Kerry three days a week. The Fossa man suffered kidney failure as a baby and the condition grew progressively worse in adulthood.

He received his vaccine last week. However, he was vaccinated through his job as the former Director of Nursing at Killarney Nursing Home and not because he is medically vulnerable.

Speaking with the Killarney Advertiser last month, he raised serious concerns about the Government’s vaccine plan.

He felt kidney patients were too far down the list and if they picked up COVID-19 in the meantime it could create an untold amount of problems for them and in turn at the kidney and dialysis unit at University Hospital Kerry (UHK).

“The new list makes far more sense,” he told the Killarney Advertiser. “The last one was something that looked like it was only thrown together. I am delighted to see the new list – and it is not just about me – I know several people with respiratory conditions who were a way, way, down the old list. They were very scared and concerned. This new list is far more comprehensive.”