The Association of Private Family Doctors (APFD) in a statement on Thursday evening, said that it notes the “particular circumstances and the patchy supply in which the yearly influenza vaccination is taking place.”

The Doctors however, lamented the “uncharacteristic way in which patients with chronic diseases who booked their yearly influenza vaccination with their private family doctors have been treated to date.”

“The Department of Health every end of summer, invites private family doctors to offer the free influenza vaccination to patients with chronic diseases, among them patients who are restricted to their homes and who were it not for the service offered by the private family doctors would not get the influenza vaccination. This year was, rightly so, in line with this yearly service,” the Doctors said.

This list was delivered to the Department of Health in September, the Doctors said, “but to date the booked vaccinations have not been provided to the private family doctors.”

They went on to say that “in both the October and the November vaccinations programmes the patients with chronic diseases who were encouraged to book the influenza vaccination in the same way they have done for the last years have been bypassed.”

The APFD concluded by asking for a “definite answer on how and when private family doctors, who take care of the majority of primary care consultations in our country, will be able to vaccinate their many vulnerable patients.”

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