Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Most of the questions relate to operational matters, so I will leave them to Mr. O'Brien and Ms McGuinness. The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, will respond to the questions relevant to her.

On the BCG vaccination, as members will be aware there is a Europe-wide shortage of vaccines. We are waiting on the manufacturers to confirm when they will be available. While some vaccines will be able before the end of the year, they will only be fully available in the new year. A catch-up programme will be organised for children who did not get the BCG vaccine. I take the point in regard to the provision of more information and reassurance for parents who may be concerned about it. It is not a public health threat at this stage but I can understand why people would be worried. There are only a handful of countries in Europe that vaccinate all children with the BCG vaccine. The Health Information and Quality Authority is actively considering whether we should discontinue vaccinating all children with the BCG and focus only on high-risk groups, which is what most other countries do. However, that is unconnected to the fact there is a shortage of the vaccine, which should be resolved in the next few months. The fact that most countries no longer vaccinate for BCG means there are only a relatively small number of manufacturers making it.