A circular from the Department of Health to all health boards in 1984 advised that the oral polio vaccine should be offered to unvaccinated parents at the same time as their child was receiving the vaccine, the High Court heard yesterday.
The boards were also advised that GPs should be informed of its contents and asked to submit returns of vaccination administered to unvaccinated parents.
Guidelines from the Irish College of General Practitioners on vaccination, dated 1993, recommended strict hygiene for contacts of OPV-vaccinated babies when handling the infants' nappies.
An action by Mr Anthony Blanche (42), of Ballybrittas, Co Laois, against the Midland Health Board and two doctors, Dr Fergus and Dr Charles McKeagney, with a practice at Main Street, Portarlington, is continuing.
He alleges negligence arising from his contracting polio following the inoculation of his daughter, Isabel, with the OPV in 1994. The defendants have denied negligence.