Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. David Robert Grimes, physicist at Oxford University, for his excellent opinion piece in The Irish Timesyesterday. He notes that UNICEF estimates that immunisation saves 9 million lives a year and has eradicated smallpox and made polio a thing of the past, among other huge advances. Many here will know survivors of the disease who are living with post-polio syndrome, from a time in Ireland when immunisation was unheard of, yet there are still those who are in denial and refusing to have their children immunised against the most prevalent and dangerous diseases. Whether through ignorance or genuine fear, they are putting their children and the population as a whole in danger. Measles is a good case in point. Without delving into the science in too much detail, to protect infants and others who cannot avail of the vaccine, the general populace must have an immunity level of approximately 94%, but we are nowhere near it.

The incidence of measles is on the rise. Dr. Grimes noted that in 2011 there were 26,000 cases of measles in Europe, resulting in nine deaths and nearly 7,300 hospitalisations. One outbreak in west County Cork in 2012 infected more than 50 people, with a staggering 88% of those infected never having received a single dose of the vaccine. Potentially life-saving vaccines are not being administered as they should be, with potentially very serious consequences for the population as a whole. I ask the Deputy Leader to facilitate a debate on the matter with the Minister for Health.