In Dec, I was really surprised how the UK struggled to publish vaccination numbers. It was described there as such an 'own goal' because they were actually doing well.
I mentioned yesterday on @RadioBrendanRTE that I hope we learn from the UK system - its failures and successes - but we are now in our own 'own goal' territory now by not publishing the figures from the first two weeks.
Publication isn't due until Thursday.
On radio, @paulreiddublin has given numbers so we have been told that 35k were done last week. And we know from individual hospitals that there are some good news stories out there.
But the official vacuum is leading to misinformation like this.
There *were* vaccinations given throughout the weekend and some hospitals even finished... see here:
But as we've been saying all pandemic, transparency is key. This might all just be a week-long story and we get all the data we could possibly want on Thurs... (we have been asking every day, btw, just in case)
But the bigger lesson for me is that we should be able to avoid the pitfalls that have just happened in the UK. Could we be having more conversations? Sharing more lessons? Even just keeping an eye and avoiding at all costs the problems (even if just optical).
The M&B Home Report is 2,865 pgs long. The survivors need time to digest it.
Historians and academics need time to distil it.
The public needs to understand it.
The work by journalists across all outlets today (and for many years) is helping all that to happen. A thread...
I'd advise people to seek out reports which include first-person evidence and points you to primary sources before reading opinion pieces (they'll have a place later on) and hot-take tweets (of which we're all guilty).
There have been superb pieces written and broadcast today.
I'll just give you a sample of our own work from @thejournal_ie here as a start.
Pertinent questioning of the Taoiseach by @orlaryan who asks 1. what the State will *specifically* be apologising for tomorrow and 2. whether the Church should apologise for its role in the existence and running of these mother and baby homes.
The Taoiseach said the State was complicit and neglectful which led to children not being protected. Instead of thriving, they had reduced chance of survival.
He also noted its direct responsibility for county homes.
Micheál Martin gave a specific example of how the mother superior at Bessborough was not removed from her position in the 40s despite inspector reports highlighting the 'very high death rate'.
That highlights the lack of action, the Taoiseach said.
Well! That was quite the 24-ish hours. We don’t quite know the full ramifications it all yet but it feels important to remember and document everything.
So… a thread:
7pm on 20 August: The Irish Examiner published the story and @aoifegracemoore tweets it out. In my version, she hit send while taking a big gulp of red wine like Olivia in Scandal (before she went bad).
Small thread on the Kerry radiology review - looking at the numbers, as broken down here by @GAodhajrnl.ie/4379135
The review - the biggest radiology lookback every carried out here - looked atl 46,000 radiology scans. All were examined by ONE consultant radiologist between March 2016 and July 2017. That's 46,000 scans in 15 months. Well over a hundred a day.