‘Medical apartheid’ dig ‘silly’, says Harris
GPs hit out at limiting of meningitis B jab to babies
HEALTH Minister Simon Harris has hit back at the National Association of General Practitioners for suggesting limiting the meningitis B vaccine to babies equated to ‘medical apartheid’. Last week, the group’s president Dr Maitiú Ó Tuathail referred to the decision not to offer children born before October 2016 the vaccine – using the language of South Africa’s abolished system of segregation.
‘That sort of language is silly,’ the Minister said. ‘It does absolutely nothing to help provide information or reassurance to patients; it just garners headlines.’
It comes as the HSE confirmed that it is investigating a 12th potential meningitis case.
Eleven have already been confirmed in recent weeks.
The Minister said that there were ‘parents out there who want to actually know what the facts are’ in relation to the vaccination programme.
‘Let me very, very clear how vaccination works in this country,’ he said.
‘Quite rightly, politicians like me don’t make decisions in relation to who we do and don’t vaccinate for.’
He said the National Immunisation Advisory Committee decided who to vaccinate and that they recommended introducing the vaccine for infants as they were at the highest risk of developing the illness.
‘I and the Government have implemented in full the advice of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee,’ he said.
‘I will be taking advice from nobody else in relation to vaccination other than that committee.’
In response, Dr Ó Tuathail doubled down on his earlier remarks and continued to call for all children to be vaccinated.
‘There is nothing “silly” about the fact that, as things stand, only children...
‘Two-tier system based on means’
born before October 2016, [to parents] that can afford to pay for the meningitis B vaccine are getting vaccinated,’ he said.
‘This reflects the inequality that exists in our health service, where there is one system for those who can afford to pay for it, and another for those than cannot, Dr Ó Tuathail said.
‘What is “silly” is that the Minister allows this unequal health service to continue.
‘Access to healthcare in Ireland should be based on needs not means,’ he added.
‘This two-tier segregation of the health system, based on means, is nothing short of “apartheid”.’
Prices for meningitis B jabs vary between practitioners, but cost upwards of €140 per jab and between two and three injections are required based on the age of the child. Some estimates have placed the total cost of immunisation for children born outside the window as high as €450.
Children born on or after October 1, 2016 are vaccinated against meningococcal B at two and four months of age, with a booster dose when they reach 12 months.
An online petition calling for a catch-up programme to be introduced for the vaccine had reached 28,908 signatures as of last night.
Despite recent concerns over meningitis, Director of Public Health John Cuddihy said that those at the highest risk of meningitis B were protected and urged parents to ensure their children’s records were up to date.
‘There isn’t an outbreak of meningitis currently,’ Dr John Cuddihy said.
‘We’ve been notified of 11 cases in the two-week period around Christmas compared to five cases the previous year. ‘The numbers are relatively low, [and] the strains that have caused this meningitis are very varied.
‘Meningitis B occurs most frequently in those under one,’ Dr Cuddihy said.
‘The key message for parents is to check the childhood immunisations of their children to make sure that they are age appropriately vaccinated,’ he added.
Dr Cuddihy said that there had been a decrease in both meningitis B and meningitis C notifications since the vaccine had been introduced. ‘There isn’t an indication for older children to be vaccinated with MenB at the moment.’ And he added that of the 11 cases identified, all strains of meningitis had been ‘evenly represented’.