Vol. 523 No. 5
204 Mr. Farrelly asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will have considerations made into abolishing the fee of £15 for old age pensioners who do not qualify for a medical card who wish to have the anti-flu vaccine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21521/00]
Supplies of influenza vaccine are made available free of charge to family doctors for administration to both medical card and non-medical card patients. The question of a fee for the administration of this vaccine to those in the latter category is a matter between patients and their doctor. I have no plans at present to provide for influenza vaccination to be made available to private patients on the same basis as for medical card holders.
It should be noted that, in line with the commitment in the Government's An Action Programme for the Millennium, it was agreed in 1999 that the income guidelines for entitlement to medical cards for persons aged 70 years or over would be doubled. This improvement, which is being introduced over a three-year period, began on 1 March 1999. The income guidelines for those aged 70 to 79 and 80 years and over, which are already higher than the normal guidelines, were increased by one-third in 1999. The second stage of this process was implemented on 1 March 2000 and the third stage will be implemented in March 2001.
