HSE must be held to account over vaccine
THERE is a worrying perception that the HSE is impervious to scrutiny. It has got to such an extent that much of the public has adopted a fatalistic attitude to its failings. No matter what the issue, there always seems more questions than answers, obscurity than light. This must not be the case in finding out why Irish children were given a double dose of the swine flu vaccine, Pandemrix. It was seemingly administered when there was a shortage of normal flu vaccines in 2011.
If this is so, it seems like an extraordinary decision that demands an explanation. Pandemrix is now the focus of a global narcolepsy controversy. It was developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Germany. It tricks the immune system into mistaking a chemical in the brain – vital for sleep – for the swine flu virus.
Victims are then unable to have normal sleep and can collapse into deep sleep without warning. They may suffer from narcolepsy for the rest of their lives.
In order to expedite the use of the vaccine in 2009, the Government gave its maker full indemnity.
Now the Irish taxpayer will be on the hook for any liabilities. Astonishingly, in 2011, stockpiles of the vaccine were employed by doctors when they ran short of the normal winter flu jab. One little girl got two doses of Pandemrix – one in 2009 and another unwittingly in 2011. She now struggles with narcolepsy every day.
There is mounting concern that others may have unwittingly received doses. Issues of liability and negligence will now have to be confronted. The Government may have been desperate to get a vaccine into use when swine flu was at its height in 2009, but desperation is no excuse.
What advice was available? And why was a total indemnity given if all the information was not to hand?
More troubling still is that we do not know on what grounds was it deemed safe to substitute the swine flu vaccine for the general flu? We need to know who made these key decisions and why. Doctors will tell you there is no such thing as alternative medicine. If it works, it is just medicine.
The HSE is not a Sphynx in our midst. It is accountable and must respond as soon as possible.