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

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to update the House on this matter. Measles is an acute and serious viral infection and is highly infectious. As Deputies are aware, there is an ongoing measles outbreak in north Dublin and Meath. The HSE east's department of public health has been notified of eight confirmed cases of measles in the north Dublin area and five in County Meath, predominantly among children. Other cases are under investigation. The source of the measles outbreak has not yet been identified. Confirmation of further cases associated with this outbreak can be expected in the coming weeks as contact tracing and other measures proceed.

An outbreak control team has been convened to investigate and control the spread of this potentially serious illness. The local HSE departments of public health, where the cases are identified, are investigating and implementing control and communication measures with local GPs, hospitals and others in the relevant communities. NGO groups working in those communities have been alerted and asked to share information through their networks about this outbreak.

An alert has been sent throughout the health system, including to emergency departments, consultants in microbiology and paediatrics, hospital managers, directors of public health nursing, and GPs. Hospitals and health care facilities are requested to raise awareness among staff in order that the triage and isolation of suspect cases is achieved, thereby helping to prevent the further spread. Suspect cases should be notified to HSE departments of public health and samples should be sent to the national virus reference laboratory to facilitate rapid diagnosis. All people identified as contacts of the measles cases are being notified and advised of the risk by departments of public health.

Immunisation is regarded as one of the safest and most effective health care interventions, and the importance of vaccination is acknowledged globally. Diseases that used to be common around the world can now be prevented by vaccination. Vaccination is effective in preventing measles. In Ireland, measles immunisation was introduced in 1985. In 1988, the MMR vaccine, which combines measles, mumps and rubella vaccines, replaced the single measles vaccine. The MMR vaccine is available free of charge as part of the primary childhood immunisation schedule. In 2016, vaccination rates for MMR at 24 months were 93% and have been above 90% since 2008.

In recent years, however, and due to the success of our programme, many vaccine-preventable diseases have become so infrequent that we have lost the collective memory of how serious and deadly some childhood illnesses can be. The lack of awareness of measles and its infectiousness may have contributed to the spread in the current outbreak. Although the uptake rate is high, this outbreak and a number of prominent measles cases last year demonstrate that we must not be complacent. Since the only protection against measles is vaccination, I encourage parents and guardians of all children and teenagers who have not been immunised yet to protect their children by getting them vaccinated. Young adults who have not been immunised should also get this important vaccine.

I will address some of the other issues that the Deputy raised after her next contribution.

See this speech in context