Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health the way the Expert Medical Group on Whooping Cough Vaccination set up in 1984 by the them Minister Mr. Barry Desmond TD arrived at its decision of reasonable doubt where symptoms of persistent screaming, collapse, convulsions, infantile spasms, paralyses and development of mental retardation were present in a child (details supplied), after their vaccination in 1976; the way that expert group concluded that their disability was not caused by their vaccination; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45273/12]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health the reasonable doubt as determined in the case of a person (details supplied) on examination by the expert group on whooping cough vaccination; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45305/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 298 and 304 together.

In November 1977 the then Minister for Health established the Expert Medical Group on Whooping Cough Vaccination to

- Examine persons who, it was claimed, had been permanently damaged by whooping cough vaccination,

- Review the medical information available in relation to them and

- Indicate whether, in its opinion, the damage was attributable to the vaccination.

The Expert Group reviewed all the cases that came before it and is no longer sitting.

The Expert Medical Group on Whooping Cough Vaccination interviewed the parents of the individual named and examined the then child on 07 June 1983. The Group also reviewed medical reports from Our Lady's Hospital Crumlin, Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda and a paediatrician from Hammersmith Hospital, London. The opinion of the Group was that "brain damage which is manifested by mental handicap and epilepsy, is the result of difficulties during delivery and it is not due to whooping cough vaccination. We find no evidence that the condition was made worse by the vaccination." All of the papers in relation to the Expert Group in this case were requested and provided to the family under the Freedom of Information Acts in January 1999.