Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What if there is a link between narcolepsy and the vaccine, as Dr. Darina O'Flanagan, not I, says? It seems to accord with Swedish and Finnish reports because that is where the same vaccine was used. We know it was not clinically tested and that it was not the same as the regular flu vaccine, even though it was stated otherwise in a leaflet. The State also indemnified the company so it had no comeback, and the State Claims Agency indemnified all the GPs and the other people administering the vaccine. We knew there was a huge risk and that there was not adequate risk analysis. The Minister of the day was rightly focused on the families. The director of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre did a professional report, which found there was a 13-fold increase in risk. What we are doing, however, is telling the 80 or 100 families or however many it is, because I do not know because some probably have not taken cases, might not have the means to go to a solicitor or might not have thought to do so yet, that they should get into the queue and that we are interested in saving the State money and not in providing care to them.