Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This issue concerns the outbreak of measles in north County Dublin in the last few weeks. It has happened a few times in recent years and is an issue I feel strongly about as a pharmacist. From a public health policy point of view, vaccination would be considered, after water sanitation, as the single greatest success story in terms of health worldwide in modern times. The concern here is that very few people are actively working now who have seen measles and witnessed families lose children at a young age. Once a disease disappears, the burden of that disease can quickly be forgotten. I am sure there are people around these Houses who remember children being born and dying very quickly but, while death is obviously very serious, measles can also cause brain damage, blindness, deafness and many complications due to secondary infections.

Today, for the benefit of the Minister for Health, I want to identify areas where we have been complacent, given this has led to an increased number of cases.

Continued high vaccination rates are vital if we are to ensure a sustained protection of the population from diseases. Facts and science save lives while miscommunication and untruths destroy them, given how they have been shown to affect vaccination rates. This country has faced challenges with the HPV vaccine, so it would be regrettable if we were to let our vaccination rate drop below approximately 95%, which is considered the point at which the population is afforded herd immunity.

A small issue arises regarding vulnerable communities, for example, those with limited education levels or language barriers and migrants from countries where health policies and vaccination protocols are different. Speaking professionally, I know that some communities have cultural fears of engaging with our State institutions, medical people and people in positions of authority because their status within this country might not be ideal. The Minister of State should address these groups in particular, given that they may not have access to the same information, knowledge or history that some of us in this country have, for the betterment of their health as well as the health of the wider population.

Recently, doses were offered to pupils in an attempt to increase the vaccination rate, but there must be a public health process whereby we highlight to people who have never encountered measles and only know it as a word what it is, how bad it can be, how to identify it, how contagious it is and how difficult it is to contain. Someone can get measles just by being in a room that a person with measles has been in. People do not even need to have direct contact.

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