The elderly are some of the most vulnerable people in society and they must, absolutely must, be minded by those of us able to help and do so.
In what is a matter of deep concern, The Liberal has learned that a General Practice clinic worker is aggressively “pushing” a covid vaccine on the elderly and actively getting angry if they refuse to take it.
A concerned family member of an elderly gentleman contacted The Liberal and we understand that a GP clinic on the east of country has a worker who phoned the elderly man over the past week. For legal reasons, we cannot name the GP Practice or worker in question, but we understand that the worker told the gentleman that he could avail of the vaccine within the next number of days.
Asked whether he wanted to take the vaccine, the elderly man told the worker that he would like some time to think about it and that he’d phone the clinic when he had made a decision. He said that the worker got increasingly angry “all of a sudden”. He told her he had concerns that the vaccine would be ineffective given the amount of new strains that were coming out.
The worker told him, “well look, the doctor has advised that you must take it and we only have a small supply so you really should just take it”.
The man politely asked the worker whether or not they were a nurse, to which he was told “no I am not. Look, I’m telling you what the doctor said alright, you need to take it”.
Trying to get another question in, the man said that worker “cut him off” and said “Look it, if you don’t take it, you’re off the list and that’s it. You won’t get it.”
The elderly gentleman was startled and worried and again politely asked the worker could he have the night to think about it and that he’d call them the next day.
The worker is said to have been angry at this stage and told the man that he had “until tomorrow to make up your mind. You should just take it or you’re gone off the list and that’s it. Do you understand? That’s it!”.
The family member who spoke to The Liberal said that the man was deeply shook after the call and very worried. They told us that their elderly relative needed a strong cup of tea to get his wits together as a result of the call.
It’s understood that neither the man or his relative are anti-vaccinations in general but have reservations about how effective the vaccine is and whether he should wait for a better one to come out at a later date.
They told The Liberal that they felt the call was extremely unprofessional, deeply offensive and insensitive to an elderly person’s genuine concerns. They said the worker was condescending in nature and was very aggressive.
“People need to be aware of how the elderly are being treated during this vaccine rollout, especially now given that the elderly are being offered the vaccine first. They deserve care, respect and their questions to be answered in a polite, reassuring and genuine way. What we experienced was the exact opposite and only heightened original concerns.”
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