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

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Harris, I thank Senator Lombard for giving me the opportunity to update the House on this important matter. Meningococcal disease is a vaccine-preventable disease which has a high mortality rate if untreated. It is statutorily notifiable in Ireland under the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2016. However, this does not require reporting of individual strains. The annual epidemiological report for 2015, published by the health protection surveillance centre of the HSE in December 2016, indicates that between 1999 and 2012, a marked downward trend in invasive meningococcal disease was observed. In 1999 there were 536 cases and in 2012 there were 66 cases, a decline of almost 88%. In Ireland in 2015, meningococcal B was the pathogen most commonly associated with invasive meningococcal disease, accounting for 57.3% of the 75 notifications that year. Age-specific incidence rates show that the highest rates are in infants less than one year of age. The vaccine used in Ireland is Bexsero. In January 2013 the vaccine received marketing authorisation from the European Commission. The immunisation programme in Ireland is based on the advice of the national immunisation advisory committee. The NIAC is a committee of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland comprised of experts in a number of specialties including infectious diseases, paediatrics and public health.

In December 2013, the NIAC issued guidelines relating to the use of this vaccination in the control of clusters or outbreaks of meningococcal B disease. The vaccine has been used in accordance with these guidelines, along with other measures, to control outbreaks of the disease.On 23 January 2015 the chair of National Immunisation Advisory Committee wrote to the chief medical officer strongly recommending that meningococcal B, or MenB, vaccine be included in the primary childhood immunisation programme, if the vaccine can be made available at a cost-effective price. In Ireland, both childhood and adult immunisation programmes are delivered by the HSE. The HSE service plan 2016 included additional funding of €2.5 million for the expansion of the primary childhood immunisation schedule. Two changes were made to the primary childhood immunisation schedule and I am happy to inform the House that, from 1 December 2016, all babies born on or after 1 October 2016 are eligible to receive the MenB and rotavirus vaccines.

The HSE national cold chain service has distributed 35,500 doses of the MenB vaccine to date. This is sufficient to vaccinate the children in the cohort born on or after 1 October 2016. Uptake figures are not yet available. Ireland is the second country in Europe to make the vaccine available free of charge as part of its national immunisation programme. There are no plans at this stage to introduce a catch-up programme for older children.