The leader of the Labour Party Alan Kelly has said the Government needs to change tactics 'pretty quickly' on how it is recruiting vaccinators.
In the Dáil earlier he highlighted the coverage the issue has received on The Hard Shoulder this week.
He said qualified doctors have to go through 'hoops' and 'hurdles' as part of the recruitment process.
"What is going on with the recruitment of vaccinators? We're heading into a critical period... we're now extending the deadline again.
"I have no clue why we can’t widen the criteria for vaccinators. I have no clue why we need birth certs, junior certs or any of these things.
"I have no clue while people who are professors, GPs, nurses and other retired specialists in healthcare can't administer vaccines."
Speaking to The Hard Shoulder on Thursday, Mr Kelly said a friend of his has been waiting since January.
"Obviously I followed what you did on your own programme, and well done on that, but I've also had many people come to me - people who are retired, people who actually used to run hospitals who can't actually get on to the list to be a vaccinator."
He said the friend of his, who is an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), applied in January.
"The hoops he's been gone through in the last two and a half, three months between various different documents, childhood documents, birth certs, passports, vaccinations - it's just incredible.
"And we really need to see a wider pick of vaccinators."
He said the process for his friend, named Colm, "is going on nearly three months and he still isn't registered.
"He's not doing this for the money, he's only doing it because of civic duty.
"But more and more people are getting cheesed off and saying 'To hell with this' because of the amount of hoops they're being pushed through".
Deputy Kelly also said people doing this need to be paid properly.
"I raised this with the Taoiseach some weeks ago, and he said no money would be spared.
"But I have been contacted by people who work one day a week because they're retired, one night a week in various different services and they're just saying it's not worth their while pay-wise to even consider doing this".
'Need to change tactics'
On the deadline being extended for vaccinators, he said it is obvious this shows they do not have enough.
"If you had enough vaccinators to be able to do 250,000 from the first week in April, why are you extending the deadline?
"It means you need more - it's common sense.
"But simply put: I've spoken to political colleagues across the board and everyone's saying the same thing - this is way too cumbersome, and as regards the net [for] brining in people it's too narrow.
"And really, they need to change tactics pretty quickly."
He added that the process should be simpler.
"Of course we don't want people who aren't qualified, but relatively speaking this is a moderately simple enough procedure.
"I'm sure anybody who's administered injections before are capable of doing this.
"If somebody's a registered physiotherapist, a registered pharmacist, an EMT, somebody who is a paramedic, somebody who is a retired nurse or doctor: pretty quickly you can find out they're bona fides as to they are who they are."
Meanwhile Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said a lack of vaccinators will not slow down the vaccine rollout.
Speaking earlier to The Hard Shoulder he said he was confident the rollout will happen as planned.
"Yes I can - the main challenge that we have at the moment is the lack of vaccine and we're one of many countries confronting that challenge at the moment.
"And as we get into April, May and June we will be getting a million more doses of vaccine available into our country per month.
"We will ensure we have the people, we've the places and we've the expertise to roll that vaccine out and turn it into a vaccination programme."
