The failure by substantial numbers of Irish parents to have their children immunised is being blamed for the measles epidemic which is spreading from Dublin to other regions of the State.
According to the National Disease Surveillance Centre, "the majority of cases have occurred in children under five years who have not received any MMR [measles, mumps, rubella] immunisation". "Given the pockets of very low uptake in inner city Dublin, it is not surprising that the outbreak started here," it says in the latest issue of its bulletin, Epi-Insight.
But uptake of MMR immunisation outside Dublin is also well below the recommended 95 per cent and "it is not surprising to see early evidence of spread to other regions of the country".
The gravity of the situation in Ireland is highlighted by the disparity with the United States, where only 100 cases of measles were confirmed last year.
Factors behind the low numbers of MMR vaccinations by parents include forgetfulness, apathy and concerns about side-effects, the NDSC bulletin said.
These parents make up about 20 per cent of the total and family doctors should receive an extra payment where they succeed in persuading this group to bring their children for vaccination, the bulletin recommends. Also needed are:
A no-fault compensation scheme where children suffer "one of the rare adverse reactions from the State-sponsored vaccination scheme."
Immunisation co-ordinators in each region. Their duties would include responding quickly to "vaccine scare stories."
Referring to fears about a possible relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism, it says that the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, the Medical Research Council in the UK and the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta "have stated that the current scientific evidence does not support the hypothesis that MMR vaccine causes the development of autism.
"It is important that we learn the lessons of the pertussis vaccine scare in the '70s and '80s, where loss of confidence in the vaccine resulted in hundreds of deaths worldwide," it said.