The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, has requested a full investigation by pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline (formerly Wellcome) followingallegations in a newspaper report that a child was injected with an animal vaccine.
The Irish Independentreport suggests that at least one child was given the veterinaryvaccine Tribovax T rather than the 3-in-1 vaccine Trivax. Bothproducts were produced by Wellcome.
Mr Martin said this morning that preliminary investigationssuggested that the National Drugs Advisory Board, (nowthe Irish Medicines Board), the Eastern Health Board nor hisdepartment were aware of the information in the report this morning.
The Minister added if such a "mix-up" were to have occurred – itwould appear it could only have happened in the manufacturing process.
Today, Fine Gael TD, Mr Denis Naughten called for a public inquiryinto the administration of "Trivax" 3-in-1 vaccine in the late 1960sand 70s.
"At the time when the vaccine was being administered in the late1960s and early 1970s, there was a huge upsurge in the number ofsevere reactions in children who received the Trivax vaccine," headded.
GlaxoSmithKline said in a statement this afternoon that the companylearned for the first time today of the allegations that a veterinaryvaccine from the company, Wellcome, may have been administered inerror to an Irish child in the early 1970s.
The company "expressed deep concern at the allegations raised in thisreport andhave initiated an investigation into the matter. Thisinvestigation would be assisted by the provision of all factsrelating to these claims to the company".
Ms Martina Dempsey, company director of medical and regulatoryaffairs suggested earlier today that if true, the mix-up could have resulted from a "transcription error" because all product codes were hand-written at that time.
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