Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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289. To ask the Minister for Health if there have been issues for persons travelling abroad in accessing vaccines for hepatitis A and typhoid, in particular the ViATIM and Hepatyrix vaccines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43483/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has up to date travel advices on its website for people travelling abroad. For specific travel advice, including information on vaccinations you should contact your G.P. or travel clinic as the HSE does not offer private vaccinations for travellers. The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), which is responsible for the regulation of medicinal products in Ireland, is aware of supply issues in relation to Hepatitis A vaccines. These shortages are not specific to the Irish market and there are ongoing discussions at European level in relation to management of the shortages which have affected supply in a number of countries.

Based on the current information available to the HPRA, the current supply situation for the two vaccines is as follows:

- Viatim (Typhoid Vaccine, Hepatitis A Vaccine, Purified Inactivated, for Adults) - Sanofi Pasteur Europe. The company responsible for marketing the product (Sanofi) has advised that while the vaccine was recently out of stock in Ireland, it received a shipment of 10,000 units which was made available for sale in Ireland on the 10th October 2017. The company has also confirmed that at present no further shortages or supply constraints for Viatim are expected for the remainder of 2017 or in 2018.

- Hepatyrix (Hepatitis A (inactivated) and Typhoid Polysaccharide vaccine (adsorbed) - GlaxoSmithKline (Ireland) Ltd. This product has not been available in Ireland since approximately September 2016. It is also out of stock in other markets. The reason for the shortage is a combination of the company (GlaxoSmithKline) having insufficient manufacturing capacity to meet the increased global demand for Hepatitis A vaccine and also some manufacturing difficulties with the typhoid component of the vaccine. At this time, the company is unable to confirm when supply will be restored.