Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for their statements and presentations. I was glad to hear Dr. Connolly say no vaccine is 100% safe or 100% effective. When my children were young and being vaccinated, whether it was the BCG vaccine, the MMR vaccine or the Hib vaccine, there was always a question in the back of my mind as to whether I was doing the right thing. I trust the general practitioner I have attended for the past four years. I trust his advice in addition to that of the experts. I am not an expert on this. Any parent vaccinating a child will always ask whether he or she is doing the right thing. I have two girls who have had the vaccination the delegates spoke about. They were older than the usual vaccination age and were no longer in school but they received it because I felt as a parent that it was important for them. They believed it was important also. Since young people are now mixing in all sorts of ways in which I probably did not mix, I believe it is important that we safeguard their health.

I was interested to hear Dr. Brenda Corcoran saying 95% of young people in the vaccination age bracket have had two doses of the vaccine. What about those who have had only one? What is the outcome for them? Will the vaccine be less helpful to them than those who have had two doses? Why have people not had all their vaccinations? Do the delegates have any concerns about this?

I thank Dr. Bonner and Dr. Gilvarry for their presentations, which I found very interesting.

Are there any records within the HSE on both the short-term and long-term side effects? When people ring in asking for advice, are all the details registered? How is this dealt with? Are there any figures on this?

I believe my last question to be a very important one. When parents sign a consent form for the vaccination to be carried out, particularly in school, is there space on the form in which to state whether their child has had a previous medical condition? If this is taken into account, are parents advised at that stage whether the vaccination is suitable for their children? I thank all the delegates.