Parents told to check vaccine records af ter meningitis deaths

Complaints over cost of the jab No plans to make it free

THE HSE is urging all parents to make sure their children are vaccinated against meningitis after 11 cases of varying strains of the disease were reported over the past few weeks – with three deaths recorded.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland, Dr Suzanne Cotter, specialist in public health medicine at the HSE, said parents should review their children’s vaccination records and ‘make sure they have actually got all the vaccinations’ they need.

‘We have noticed in the past couple of years that the uptake of these vaccines is less than the uptake of the other vaccines that are part of that programme,’ said Dr Cotter.

She added that many children were not fully protected against meningitis as they had missed the booster 13-month jab.

However, parents whose children missed out on the free meningitis B (MenB) jab have been pointing out that many of them are having to fork out hundreds of euro to get their children vaccinated against the disease. Although immunisation is offered free to children born from October 2016, children born before this date are not covered under the scheme.

Callers to RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline yesterday complained about the high cost of the vaccine, with some spending large sums to vaccinate multiple children against the strain. The price of vaccines against MenB vary between practitioners, but can cost around €140 per jab, and between two and three injections are required based on the age of the child.

According to the HSE, children aged under 12 months are at the greatest risk of developing the meningitis B strain.

Children born on or after October 1, 2016, are vaccinated against the life-threatening MenB at between two and four months of age, with a booster dose when they reach 12 months. Those who were born before this date are, since 2000, entitled to free vaccines to protect them only from another strain, meningitis C.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Health said that although the jab is part of the childhood vaccination programme, there are no plans to make it free or to cover it under the medical card scheme. ‘The HSE advises that it would be uneconomical to extend the programme,’ the spokeswoman said.

After three meningitis deaths were confirmed this winter, Opposition parties have called for the MenB vaccine to be made free to all children – not just those born after October 2016.

Fianna Fáil spokesperson on primary care John Brassil said action was needed. ‘It was a welcome development in 2016 when the life-saving meningitis B vaccine was made available free of charge for infants up to the age of 12 months,’ he said.

‘However, for other children there is a cost of some €280 for the [at least] two shots required. For a family with several children, such a cost could be prohibitive. It could also be life-threatening.’

The Government’s own National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC), which includes a panel of over a dozen of the best doctors in the field, have recommended that the MenB vaccine be given out free to all young children.

A HSE spokeswoman said this should not be misinterpreted and that the recommendation only referred to very young children.

‘MenB disease is most common in babies under the age of one year old. The vaccine is recommended for this group. NIAC has never recommended a catch-up programme,’ she said. The Meningitis Research Foundation said that vaccines included in the routine immunisation schedule were offered to the age groups at the highest risk of the disease.

‘MenB has, for many years, been the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in Ireland, so introducing the MenB vaccine into the schedule for babies in December 2016 was a major step forward,’ said Linda Glennie, director of research for the group.

‘We encourage everyone to take up the offer of the vaccines that are available as part of the routine immunisation schedule to protect themselves and their families.’

Meningitis is caused by a virus or bacteria which inflames the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

Symptoms include light sensitivity, headache, joint or muscle pain and a rash which does not fade when pressed with a clear glass. Provisional data in the latest cases has suggested different strains of meningitis are involved and that none of those affected had been in contact with each other.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said the current strains circulating have not yet been identified as meningitis B.

IN light of the current meningitis outbreak it is only right for the HSE to recommend to parents that they get their children vaccinated.

However, only children born from the start of October 2016 are entitled to free Meningitis B immunisation. For older children it is a costly procedure, and at somewhere in the region of €200 per shot, per child, simply prohibitive for a great many families. Particularly when, depending on the age of the child, two or three shots of the vaccine are required.

So what precisely is the HSE advocating? That only those who can afford to pay should have their children vaccinated against this life-threatening disease? What kind of message is that to send out to the parents of Ireland? Either the HSE is advocating universal child immunisation against meningitis, or it is not.

Nor is this the same as a situation whereby the Government withholds funding for expensive drugs to treat specific patients. Meningitis can strike anyone. To provide the vaccine for our children, therefore, will not only protect them, but will cushion the knock-on effect and curtail the spread of the disease to the greater population.