An epidemic of measles is overdue, Dr Rory Lehane of the Irish College of General Practitioners has warned, because a quarter of Irish children have not been vaccinated against it.
The warning comes on the eve of the launch by the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, of a campaign initiated by the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association with the support of the Department to persuade more parents to have their children vaccinated.
As many as 10,000 children each year are put at risk of developing potentially serious diseases because of the shortfall in vaccination, Prof Denis Gill, Temple Street Children's Hospital, said.
"Anti-vaccine stories in the media, including unbalanced TV documentaries and general scaremongering, have not been helpful and do untold harm to the work of dedicated nurses and doctors who would not contemplate administering a procedure which could be harmful to children."
According to Dr Lehane, "because the level of immunisation is much lower than the level of 90 per cent coverage of children which is required for protection, experts at the Irish National Disease Surveillance Centre are preparing to respond to the risk of an outbreak and are now recommending MMR booster at school entry."
According to Dr Lehane, children who contract measles are 100 times more likely to suffer ear infections than children vaccinated against measles, are 10 times more likely to be hospitalised and five times more likely to suffer convulsions than immunised children.