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Defence Forces Last Day at Mid-West Vaccination Centres

UL Hospitals Thank Army
Lt Col Pat Murnane, Officer Commanding, 12th Infantry Battalion, and Colette Cowan, CEO, UL Hospitals Group, thanking Defence Forces personnel for their support in the vaccination programme.

HEALTH staff have saluted members of the Defence Forces on their last day supporting the rollout of the MidWest’s Covid-19 vaccination programme.

At an event to mark the occasion at Limerick Racecourse attended by members of the 12th Infantry Battalion and HSE staff, Colette Cowan, CEO, UL Hospitals Group, said the vaccination teams would be “eternally grateful to the Defence Forces for their support in the vaccination programme at our three centres in Limerick, Ennis and Nenagh”.

“One of the things that members of the public remarked upon most often was the mere presence of the Defence Forces at the centres, which brought sharply to mind how we were all involved in an emergency response and a great national effort.

Since the opening of the vaccination centres in the region, Defence Forces personnel have provided logistical support, managed stores and supported pharmacy services.

Lt Col Pat Murnane, Officer Commanding, 12th Infantry Battalion, said: “It is very gratifying that the Defence Forces was able to assist the HSE in the nation’s hour of need and the level of co-operation we have had with HSE staff and the relationships we have built during the pandemic will stand to us in good stead in the future should we ever need to do something like this again. The fact that all of our personnel volunteered to put themselves in harm’s way with HSE staff across a wide variety of tasks from patient transfer to assistance in nursing homes to assistance in both the inoculation and testing centres, it was very gratifying to be able to assist with a 100% volunteer response.”

Over 360,000 vaccinations have been delivered by UL Hospitals Group vaccination teams to date.