I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 157 together.
The primary childhood immunisation programme provides for the immunisation of children up to two years of age against a range of potentially serious infectious diseases. Under the programme parents may have their children immunised free of charge by the general practitioner of their choice. The schedule of immunisation is in accordance with the recommendations of the immunisation advisory committee of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI).
The international consensus is that MMR is a safe and effective vaccine and that the recently published medical evidence does not support a causal link between MMR and autism. The institutions involved include the Medical Research Council Expert Committee UK, the British Committee on Safety of Medicines, the World Health Organisation, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) USA, the American Academy of Paediatrics, and UK professional organisations (the RCGP, the Royal College of Paediatrics, the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, the BMA, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society). Most recently, the United States Institute of Medicine also concluded that there was no link between the vaccine and autism/inflammatory bowel disease. This consensus is based on large-scale epidemiological studies and more specific studies done in the laboratory setting.