Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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283. To ask the Minister for Health if he will now fund a catch-up programme for the chicken pox vaccine to allow all families avail of it on the public system. [40724/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The immunisation programme in Ireland is based on the advice of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC). NIAC continue to revise its recommendations having regard to of the prevalence of the relevant disease in Ireland and international best practice in relation to immunisation.

To date, the varicella vaccine has not been included as part of the primary childhood immunisation programme. As NIAC made a recommendation to include varicella in the programme, my Department asked HIQA to carry out a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) on the Varicella Zoster Vaccine which was published on July 13th 2023.

HIQA found that there is clear and consistent evidence that the chickenpox vaccine is both safe and effective in preventing chickenpox and its complications. It also found that adding the chickenpox vaccine to the programme is likely to be cost effective.

Having considered the findings of the HTA, I have approved the introduction of the varicella vaccine into the Primary Childhood Immunisation Programme for those children born from 1 October 2024. There are no plans in place to implement a catch up programme.