Vol. 517 No. 6
290 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Health and Children if his Department has any arrangement with the pharmaceutical industry regarding the current immunisation programme in the event of adverse reaction by any of the children being immunised and the question of liability and compensation in such an outcome. [10876/00]
There is no arrangement with my Department of the type suggested.
All vaccines must be licensed for use by the Irish Medicines Board and an adverse drug reaction – ADR – reporting system is operated by the board. Reports of suspected ADRs are received from healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical companies. Information collected through this system is an important method of monitoring drug safety in normal clinical practice, by increasing knowledge about known adverse drug reactions and also by acting as an early warning system for the identification of previously unrecognised adverse reactions. Such information is one of the tools used by the IMB in its ongoing safety evaluation of marketed drugs and vaccines.
