Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

At the moment, should a parent choose to get the chickenpox vaccine for their child, it will cost approximately €90. It is a prohibitive cost for many. Many make the leap to get it done not only to protect their child's health, but also because of considerations such as parents losing work time and so on. The HIQA recommendation is a game changer here. Just after the summer break, I got a reply to a parliamentary question in which I had asked whether the Department had calculated what it would cost to include the vaccine in the immunisation programme. The Department had not done such a calculation, but HIQA estimates this cost at between €13 million and €28 million. As the Minister of State said in her initial response, HIQA also said that this would be cost effective. It would be good to see some progress on this. I acknowledge that the Minister's stance on vaccines and their promotion is very strong and very good. I hope that we will see progress in this area. It would be beneficial for the children and for their parents in terms of ensuring they can stay in work.

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