Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 30 Jan 2001

Vol. 529 No. 1

Written Answers. - Vaccination Programme.

Nora Owen

Ceist:

721 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of children who have been vaccinated with the meningitis vaccine since the commencement of the scheme in 2000; the number of instances of meningitis B or C that have been reported to the health boards in the past six months; the number of fatalities that have occurred as a result of meningitis in each health board area, giving a breakdown by age, sex and location; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2276/01]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

The meningococcal C immunisation programme commenced in October 2000. The aim of the programme is to immunise all persons up to 22 years of age. Phase 1 of the programme is targeting those at greatest risk; children under five years and young persons aged 15 to 18 years. Once Phase 1 has been completed, there will be a continuing ‘catch-up' programme from spring 2001 targeting 5 to 14 and 19 to 22 year olds. While it is as yet too early to establish the precise level of uptake being achieved in relation to the meningococcal C vaccine, preliminary indications are that uptake is generally good. Uptake in the third level population is not satisfactory, however, and new initiatives to target this group are being developed.

The National Disease Surveillance Centre has advised that the provisional number of cases of Meningitis B and C reported by each health board in the six-month period July to December 2000 is as follows:

Health Board	Group B	Group C
Eastern Regional Health Authority	40	13
Midland	4	2
Mid-Western	9	4
North-Eastern	15	4
North-Western	2	2
South-Eastern	12	6
Southern	10	11
Western	4	0
Total	96	42

The centre further advised that the provisional number of deaths due to group B and group C meningococcal disease that occurred in the period July to December 2000 by age group and sex is as follows:

Group B

Health Board	1	1-4	5-9	10-14	15-19	20-24	25	Total
Eastern Regional Health Authority	–	1(M)	–	–	–	1(M)	–	2
Midland	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Mid-Western	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
North-Eastern	1(F)	–	–	1(F)	–	–	–	2
North-Western	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
South-Eastern	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Southern	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Western	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	4

Group C

Health Board	1	1-4	5-9	10-14	15-19	20-24	25	Total
Eastern Regional Health Authority	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Midland	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Mid-Western	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
North-Eastern	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
North-Western	–	–	–	–	1(M)	–	–	1
South-Eastern	–	–	–	1(M)	–	–	–	1
Southern	–	–	–	–	1(F)	–	–	1
Western	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	3