Vol. 534 No. 1
74 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Health and Children the total number of children who received out-of-date polio vaccine; the steps which are being taken to ensure that this situation does not happen again; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9993/01]
101 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Health and Children the way in which polio vaccines were allowed to be administered in 1998 and 1999 when they were out of date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9844/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 74 and 101 together.
The administration of the childhood immunisation programme is a matter, in the first instance, for the health boards. Since December 1995, general practitioners have been contracted by the health boards to deliver the primary childhood immunisation programme.
When this issue came to light, my Department requested the health boards to conduct a detailed examination of records in order to establish the extent to which the administration of oral polio vaccine after its expiry date had occurred in the period January 1998 to December 2000. The information to date, which is not yet complete, suggests that in excess of 11,000 doses were administered out of date and that of this quantity approximately 5,000 doses were administered more than one month after their expiry date. It should, however, be noted that in any one year period some 200,000 doses of oral polio vaccine are administered to approximately 100,000 children as part of the primary and booster childhood immunisation programmes.
I requested expert advice in relation to the safety and efficacy aspects of this issue from the immunisation advisory committee of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The committee has advised that the efficacy of the vaccine is reduced if it is administered more than one month after the expiry date and that the vaccination should therefore be repeated in such cases. My Department has written to the chief executive officers of the health boards advising them that parents of any children who received any dose of oral polio vaccine more than one month after its expiry date should be contacted and advised of the need to have the immunisation repeated. The health boards were asked to advise general practitioners and all other relevant health professionals of the situation.
Health boards have been requested to examine how the administration of out of date vaccines occurred and the measures which should be put in place to prevent a recurrence. This matter has also been brought to the attention of the Irish College of General Practitioners who have been asked to review the matter and to consider the development of protocols in respect of vaccine administration.
In view of this incident health boards have been asked to examine systems and procedures currently in place, identify shortcomings where these exist and put in place revised systems or procedures as a matter of urgency.
