Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is considerable concern among many parents about meningitis and the fact that a number of children - I understand it is three - have died in recent weeks as a result of contracting meningitis. We know from the programme for Government that there was an extended vaccination for meningitis B for children born after October 2016. for children born before that date, however, parents have to pay for vaccination privately at a cost of between €300 and €450. It is a major concern that many families simply do not have the money to protect their children. Many families have one child who is protected because he or she was born after October 2016 and other children who are not. Those families are seriously concerned. The president of the National Association of General Practitioners, Dr. Maitiú Ó Tuathail, has stated that the fact that only children who were born before October 2016 and whose parents can afford the cost are being vaccinated amounts to medical apartheid. He also stated this leads to significant parental stress and anxiety. Will the Minister do what thousands of parents and GPs right across the State are calling on him to do? GPs are being inundated in their clinics and have to break the news that, regardless of whether one has a medical card, one cannot get this vaccine for one's child if he or she was born before October 2016 without paying for the privilege. Will the Minister ensure that there is a catch-up programme for all children under the age of 18 in order that we might protect children from meningitis B and ensure that it is eradicated by having the necessary level of vaccination within the State?

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