James Cox
A teacher from St Gerard's school in Bray has said the “vast majority” of staff had no part in the Beacon vaccine controversy.
Covid-19 vaccine operations at the private hospital in Dublin have been suspended after it used 20 doses, left over after a daily vaccination session, to vaccinate staff members from St Gerard’s school in Bray.
However, a teacher from the school has said “chosen colleagues” were vaccinated with the majority of 100 members of staff completely unaware.
The message came in the form of an anonymous letter sent to Joe Duffy, who read it out on RTÉ's Liveline programme today.
“Teachers and their extended family and staff innocent of this scandal have had to endure text messages and phone calls all weekend asking them if they had skipped the queue and taken the vaccine,” the letter adds. “We should not be expected to carry the can for them.”
You can read the full letter below:
Dear Joe,
I am writing to you in relation to the Saint Gerard’s/ Beacon hospital scandal which broke last Friday.
I am a teacher in the St Gerard’s senior school and I am utterly devastated and very angry by what has taken place.
I just want to make the point that this is NOT ALL the teachers in St Gerard’s, it is a very small minority of them and they have to live with this.
The vast majority had no part in this and yet are being tarred with the one brush.
The number of teachers and management who took this vaccine is 20. There are approximately 100 members of staff between the two schools. So approximately a fifth are involved in this affair.
The chosen colleagues never told or shared this information with the rest of us.
The rest of the teaching body and staff only learned of this appalling affair from the breaking news on Friday morning. Teachers and their extended family and staff innocent of this scandal have had to endure text messages and phone calls all weekend asking them if they had skipped the queue and taken the vaccine.
We should not be expected to carry the can for them.
I do not accept these vaccines were going to waste etc, and I can swear I would not have taken the vaccine had I been offered it. I am fit and healthy and am frustrated that my own elderly relatives have not yet been vaccinated, I am glad I did not get the call anyway as I would have then been left knowing that this was going on and then I too would have been complicit.
It is a disgrace. It should not have happened.
Regards,
Anonymous
Teacher in St Gerard’s Senior School, Bray
