Arrangements have been in place since 1968 under the Irish Medicines Board — formerly the National Drugs Advisory Board — to monitor adverse reactions to medicines, including vaccines. I have asked the board to provide me with an initial report on their assessment of reported reactions to DTP vaccine in the last five years and I will communicate the outcome of this assessment to the Deputy as soon as possible.
Officers of the Department, during the period 1979 to 1982, gave regular consideration to the establishment of an appropriate objective mechanism to determine compensation in proven cases of vaccine damage. However, having particular regard to the report of the expert group established in 1977 to assess individual cases and the May 1981 report of the DHSS on whooping cough vaccine no further consideration was given to this proposal after 1982.
The DHSS report had concluded that in general there was a very small risk associated with the pertussis vaccine, that it was not possible to clearly identify any specific syndrome associated with the vaccine and that there was no way of proving in any particular case that brain damage had been caused by the vaccine. As the reports of the Irish Expert Medical Group had been based on the balance of probabilities, it was felt that in the Irish context vaccine damage had not been absolutely proven. There is no record of any advice having been given by officials to the Minister in this matter.
Extensive international research has been conducted over many years regarding the possible link between pertussis vaccination and chronic brain damage. In the latest edition of Meylers Side Effect of Drugs, a publication of international standing, the conclusion is that there is insufficient evidence to indicate either the presence or absence of a casual relation between DTP vaccine and a range of conditions, including chronic neurological damage. In the circumstances, I do not propose to initiate further ongoing research on this matter but will continue to monitor closely all reported developments in this area. At a practical level I would like to reiterate the advice given in the recently published guidelines on immunisation in which particular stress is laid on the identification of children who may have contraindications to this particular vaccine.
