John Bruton
Ceist:533 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Health the proportion of children under four years of age who have been vaccinated against meningitis.
Written Answers. - Meningitis Vaccinations.
The Haemophilus Influenza Type B — or Hib as it is commonly called — vaccine was introduced in Ireland in October 1992. This immunisation programme is designed to offer protection to infants from the age of 2 months against a certain form of bacterial meningitis, which is one of the severest of the communicable diseases in young children.
Statistics in relation to the uptake of the vaccine are presently being collected by my Department. However, a total of 352,500 does have been distributed to the health boards since the introduction of the scheme.