Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

It is important to say that these families are not anti-vaccine crusaders. They had their daughters vaccinated and now their daughters are severely unwell and as the Minister says, the side-effects are real. It is all very well to acknowledge the EMA review of the drug but it only examined it for two side-effects and did not take into account the full range of symptoms that some of the parents have outlined, anything from a leg tumour to chronic fatigue and so on. The problem is that while it is all very well to say they can access health care and support services if they are ill it is not as straightforward as that, particularly when means testing or reliance on private health care come into play. The parents who attended a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children wondered how they would meet their daughters’ medical needs in the years to come. They looked for long-term treatment plans. Families cannot cope with the ongoing need to go to doctors, specialists, never mind hospital stays and medication. They need to explore alternative options for schooling and education because some of these young women cannot get out of bed. They want exemptions for the leaving certificate and all such supports which might not be available. It is much bigger than that. We are on the eve of an election and the parents may have met the HSE but they need urgent assessment and assistance to meet these needs now.

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