Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

I am responding on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Mary Harney, Minister for Health and Children. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to outline to the House the importance attached by the Department of Health and Children and the Health Service Executive to the issue raised.

The Minister for Health and Children has been informed by the Health Service Executive that this vaccine will be introduced into the immunisation programme in September 2008. Ireland's recommended immunisation programme is based on the guidelines of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The guidelines are prepared with the assistance of an active committee from associated disciplines in paediatrics, infectious diseases, general practice and public health. The current schedule contains immunisations against the following ten infectious diseases: tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, haemophilus influenzae B, Hib, disease, meningococcal C disease, measles, mumps and rubella.

The NIAC has completed a review of our immunisation schedule and the Department has received the updated guidelines. These new guidelines include a number of changes, including the addition of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, PCV, to the schedule. PCV provides a high level of protection to young children against pneumococcal infections. I thank the NIAC for the time and effort that went into its deliberations on this important piece of public health work.

Immunisation is a simple, safe and effective way to protect children against certain diseases. Immunisation against infectious disease has saved more lives than any other public health intervention apart from providing clean water. In order to eliminate these infectious diseases entirely, uptake of immunisations of 95% or greater is required. When immunisation uptake rates are below 95%, outbreaks of infectious disease will continue to occur and some children will suffer complications or die as a result. Although immunisation uptake rates in this country have not yet reached the target of 95%, they continue to improve. The national uptake rate for children aged 24 months now stands at more than 90% for most vaccinations and the Department will continue to work with the HSE to achieve a 95% uptake rate.

The social benefits for the community in general of achieving an uptake level of 95%, thereby providing population immunity, cannot be emphasised enough. We owe it to the more vulnerable members of our community to protect them as best we can and we must encourage parents to immunise their children. I urge all parents to have their children immunised against the diseases covered by the childhood immunisation programme to ensure that both their children and the population generally have maximum protection against the diseases concerned.

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