Bernard Allen
Ceist:226 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has carried out a study on the impact that the new meningococcal c vaccine will have on the number of meningitis cases. [10434/00]
Written Answers. - Vaccination Programme.
No specific study has been carried out in this country on the impact the new meningococcal C vaccine will have on the number of cases of the disease in Ireland. The provisional number of cases of bacterial meningitis, including meningococcal septicaemia, notified to my Department by the health boards in 1999 was 614. This figure is currently the subject of a validation exercise. It is estimated that, nationally, approximately one-third of cases involve group C disease.
The vaccine can be introduced in this country only when the statutory licensing authority, the Irish Medicines Board, has granted the necessary authorisation. The Irish Medicines Board must of course satisfy itself that the product meets the requirements in relation to such issues as safety and efficacy, before a product authorisation is granted. The latest indications are that the vaccine should be licensed and available for use here in the summer.
Preliminary reports from the United Kingdom, where the vaccine has already been licensed and introduced, indicate that the vaccine has been effective in significantly reducing the incidence of group C meningococcal disease in the age-groups targeted there to date.
Planning is under way for the introduction of the new vaccine into the primary childhood immunisation programme and for it to be given to older children and young people in a "catch-up" programme beginning later this year. As part of the preparations for the introduction of the new vaccine, the meningococcal reference laboratory at the Children's Hospital, Temple Street, is undertaking a study to establish the sub-strains of group C meningococcal disease currently circulating in Ireland. This will enable an analysis to be carried out after the vaccine has been introduced, to establish its effect on the sub-strains of the disease in circulation.