THE MENINGITIS Trust has urged parents of children under two years of age to avail of a new vaccine for pneumococcal disease.
The new vaccine has been introduced into the national immunisation programme from yesterday and will be given to children at two, six and 12 months and is also available free to all children aged under two years under a "catch-up programme".
Carole Nealon of the Meningitis Trust said her organisation had fought "long and hard" to have the vaccine introduced in Ireland and that all parents should regard the vaccine as a "must-do".
"We are pro any vaccine that is proven to be safe and effective, as this one has since it was introduced in the United States in 2000 - millions of doses have been given," she said.
Nealon said she would also urge any parents who were wary of vaccines to contact the Meningitis Trust so they could "be fully informed about the choice they are making".
Vaccines to protect against two serious diseases have been added to the immunisation programme - pneumococcal disease which can cause meningitis, septicaemia (blood poisoning) and pneumonia and Hepatitis B infection, that affects the liver and can cause lifelong liver disease.
At the launch of a campaign by the Meningitis Trust yesterday called "We Must Catch Up", Nealon said pneumococcal meningitis was the second most common type of meningitis and was a "devastating disease". There is still no vaccine to protect against the most common type of meningitis.
Last year in Ireland, 19 children aged under four years contracted pneumococcal meningitis and four of those children died - generally one in five children affected die. Of the children who survive, about half suffer very serious after-effects including loss of sight or hearing, epilepsy or amputation of limbs.
Pneumococcal disease is most common in children under two and the vaccine being given is designed to tackle the particular forms of the disease that affects this age group.
Doctors also stress that the roll-out of the vaccine will have health benefits for the whole population as it reduces the general level of pneumococcal bacteria in circulation. Children under two and the very elderly are the most vulnerable to the disease.
Public health specialist Dr Peter Finnegan said that after the introduction of the vaccine in the US there was a 35 per cent reduction in antibiotic resistant pneumococci.
The HSE has set a target of 95 per cent uptake of the new vaccine. Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews said that to achieve this "would be a testament to those children who have not survived" and he urged all parents to avail of it.
The HSE's assistant national director of population health, Kevin Kelleher, said that an uptake of the vaccine of between 90 and 95 per cent would save 3,000 children and elderly people from being admitted to hospital each year.
"It can stop 1,000 children under two being admitted to hospital with pneumococcal disease and also stop about 2,000 cases in adults and elderly people so it can have a big impact on the health of adults as well," he said.
The "catch-up" vaccine will be given to children under two in stages. From next week radio and newspaper adverts will advise parents when they should go to their GP for the vaccine.
More information is available on www.meningitis-trust.ie or on the trust's 24-hour helpline on 1800 523 196