asked the Minister for Health when the measles vaccination programme, promised for the beginning of 1985, will commence.
7.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Measles Vaccination Programme.
6.
asked the Minister for Health the date on which it is proposed to commence the programme of measles vaccination; and the amount of money allocated to each health board for this programme.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together.
Following consultation with directors of community care who will be responsible for organising the programme locally, it has been decided that it would be more effective to begin the programme in the autumn rather than in the late spring as originally proposed.
The publicity announcing the measles vaccination programme will therefore begin in September and the vaccination programme will begin in October. The Northern Ireland authorities will be running a similar vaccination programme at that time. It is considered that the programmes here and in Northern Ireland will be more effective if they are carried out simultaneously.
With regard to funding, the detail of the manner in which the programme will be introduced in each health board area is currently the subject of discussions with the health boards. The precise allocation to each board will be decided in the light of these discussions.
Can the Minister indicate the extent to which his Department feel this vaccination programme is required? Is it proposed to operate this scheme through the schools, or how is it proposed to operate it?
There are 40,000 cases of measles each year. The side effects of the disease put enormous pressures on the health services in the short and long run. The annual cost of the disease to the health services and to the economy as a whole was estimated at £2.7 million in a recent cost benefit study of a measles vaccination programme for Ireland carried out by my Department. The Government set aside specific moneys in this year's budget at my request for a measles vaccination programme. I want to thank my counterpart in Northern Ireland for agreeing to co-operate on a joint basis in the programme. It will be completed in each community care area and will mean initially a six weeks intensive mass immunisation of all susceptible children in the 15 months to five years age group and in subsequent years the vaccination each year of at least 90 per cent of the children between the age of one and two years and then the establishment in each community care area of systems to identify unvaccinated children and for the surveillance of the disease. This is a matter which the House might consider — possibly the certification of measles vaccination or evidence of natural infection as a requirement for entry into a school. Many countries have that requirement. We have not.
The Minister said that, following consultation with the directors of community care, it was decided to postpone this immunisation programme until the autumn. Originally the Minister told us it was due to commence in March of this year. Was it on the advice of the directors of community care that the decision was taken? Can he tell me the total amount allocated this year for the measles vaccination programme? Is he satisfied that the amount allocated will be sufficient to cover the cost of such a programme?
Half a million pounds has been allocated. The cost of the initial programme will be £450,000, that is, the mass immunisation programme, and it will be £166,000 in subsequent years for the routine vaccination aspect. I have received the co-operation of the directors of community care and the Irish Medical Organisation. We have had discussions with the IMO and it has been decided that the general practitioners will be officially involved in the national measles vaccination programme. They will be paid £3.22 for each vaccination. A fee of that amount will be paid to doctors on receipt of notification of the details such as the names and addresses by the DCC and MOH. There will be a second fee of £7.80 per ten vaccinations. That has been agreed for the monitoring of the immunisation programme. I am pleased that the GPs are agreeable to co-operate in this essential basic preventive measure.
I asked the Minister was it on the advice of the directors of community care that a decision was made to postpone the programme until the autumn, or was it their advice that he should go ahead with it in the spring?
We had some misgivings. We had discussions with the directors of community care and the medical officers of health in December last. It was agreed that an autumn start would be more advisable. A commencement date at the end of April or the beginning of May would be very near to the summer months when parents would be preparing for holidays and would not be atuned to thinking about the health of their children to the same extent as they would be at the onset of winter. It was felt that the beginning of winter was the better period. We will be using television quite a bit and during the summer months the fall off in television viewing is quite marked.
The Minister told us the fees which will be payable to the GPs. Will this vaccination be available through the health board clinics? In what way will the scheme apply to people who have medical cards, or will they be affected in any way by the implementation of the scheme?
The public at large will not be paying for it. The Department will be paying the GPs direct, following reports from the directors of community care. To that extent, it is a general eradication scheme which is being undertaken here. We shall be involving the Health Education Bureau, the health boards and the directors of community care. I shall be asking Members of the House to urge their constituents to avail of the scheme because the incidence of side effects of measles is extremely high and it is a very dangerous illness.