A campaign to persuade more parents to have their children immunised has been called for by the National Disease Surveillance Centre. The call follows further falls in the uptake of some vaccines last year. The uptake of none of the vaccines reached the target level of 95 per cent of the population, according to Dr Margaret Fitzgerald and Dr Darina O'Flanagan in the NDSC's bulletin Epi-Insight.
Thanks to immunisation, diseases like diphtheria and polio are now extremely rare, they write. The Hib vaccine, introduced in 1992, has reduced cases of this infection (which can cause a type of bacterial meningitis in children under two years of age) from between 80 and 100 cases a year to fewer than five cases a year.
"Despite these successes, Ireland lags behind many other developed countries in achieving the high vaccination uptake required to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella," they write.
"When vaccination coverage is low, children are left susceptible to the disease in question. This has been highlighted by the recent measles outbreak in Ireland when 1,560 cases of measles were reported in the first 10 months of 2000, compared to 147 for the entire year in 1999."
The lowest uptake of immunisation is for the MMR vaccine, which provides protection against measles, mumps and rubella. In the second quarter of last year, 76.7 per cent of two-year-olds had been given the MMR vaccine compared with 77.1 per cent in the same period of the previous year.
For immunisation against diphtheria the uptake was 85 per cent (86.5 per cent in 1999), for whooping cough it was 81.9 per cent (no change), for tetanus 85 per cent (86.5 per cent), for Hib 84.6 per cent (85.8 per cent) and for polio 84.7 per cent (86.4 per cent).
The uptake of immunisation in Northern Ireland is significantly higher than in the Republic. In the North, the uptake of immunisation for diphtheria, whooping cough and Hib exceeded the target of 95 per cent. In the case of MMR, the uptake in the second quarter of last year was 92.7 per cent. In the Republic, uptake of the MMR vaccine varies between regions but is between 70 per cent and 80 per cent, except in the South Eastern Health Board (87.5 per cent) and the Western Health Board (81.7 per cent).
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children received 80 submissions when it invited views on the issue. Some parents' groups allege there is a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The chief medical officer of the Department of Health and Children, Dr Jim Kiely, recently stressed that no such link had been proven.
Other parents' groups say administration of the vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella in one dose is potentially dangerous and they should have the option of separate vaccinations. Dr Kiely says the vaccines are very safe and highly effective.
"Immunisation programmes in the Republic need strengthening," Dr Fitzgerald and Dr O'Flanagan conclude. "A coalition for immunisation, with input from the public, parents and all partners advocating immunisation has helped in some countries. It is time to mobilise such an effort here. Further research is needed to explore attitudes of parents in Ireland and discover why uptake has not been as high as in other parts of Europe."