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Meningitis: HSE expert says rate of uptake of vaccine boosters is 'very disappointing'

The HSE yesterday issued an initial warning after the deaths of three people.

THE HSE HAS today again urged parents to vaccinate their children following the death of three people as a result of a dangerous infection that causes meningitis and septicaemia. 

Eleven cases of what is known as meningococcal disease have been reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) since the last week in December.

Three of these patients have died and all three deaths were directly due to this infection.

Speaking at a HSE briefing on seasonal flu, assistant national director of health protection Dr Kevin Kelleher said that “this is just as much the flu time of the year as it is the meningitis time of the year as well”. 

In a statement yesterday, the HSE noted that although meningococcal disease generally increases during winter months, the recent increase is “cause for concern”, highlighting the sights of symptoms of the disease. 

Dr Suzanne Cotter, specialist in public health medicine at the HPSC, said: 

If anyone has any concerns about meningitis they should ring their GP in the first instance. Meningitis and septicaemia often happen together and symptoms can appear in any order. 
Some may not appear at all. Early symptoms can include; fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain, stomach cramps, fever with cold hands and feet and a rash, but do not wait for the rash to appear. If someone is ill and getting worse, get medical help immediately.

Vaccination warning

It yesterday advised parents to check that their children are up-to-date with their meningococcal vaccinations.

There has been a drop in the uptake of these vaccines among children in recent years. 

Taking note of this today, Dr Kelleher said: “What I’ve got to say is we have got available the vaccines to cope with this problem. What is interesting is, after all the pressure around us getting vaccines to deal with meningitis, the uptake rates are not hitting the 95%. 

What is very disappointing is we have seen that the boosters that we give at 12 and 13 months are not being taken up. 

He added that “the difficulty we’re facing at the moment is the fact that we’re not getting all of the babies vaccinated properly”. 

Latest HSE data shows that, as of Q2 in 2018, the uptake rate of the first dose of MenC for babies at 12 months was 90%. The uptake for two doses of MenB at 12 months was 93% and the uptake of MenC at 24 months was 88%. 

“It’s really important that those boosters are happening. Parents do need to make sure that they get their children along twice,” Kelleher said. 

A vaccine that protects against meningococcal C disease (MenC vaccine) is given at six months and at 13 months and meningococcal B vaccine (MenB vaccine) is given at two, four and 12 months of age. 

More than one dose of the same vaccine is sometimes given in the first few years of a child’s life. The extra doses improve the antibody response and give better long-term protection, according to the HSE. 

Booster doses of some vaccines are also given to school children to give better long-term protection.

Latest cases

Following investigation, none of the patients with meningococcal disease have been identified as having had contact or links with each other. Spread of meningococcal from person to person is very unusual, especially outside of close household contact.

In 2018 a total of 89 meningococcal cases were notified compared to 76 in 2017.  The eleven cases notified since the last week in December compared to five cases in the same time period last year. 

Meningitis is a serious illness involving inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. It can be caused by a variety of different germs, mainly bacterial and viruses.

Bacterial meningitis is less common but is usually more serious than viral meningitis and requires urgent treatment with antibiotics and may be accompanied by septicaemia (blood poisoning).

The bacteria live naturally in the nose and throat of normal healthy persons without causing illness and the spread of the bacteria is caused by droplets from the nose and mouth. The illness occurs most frequently in young children and adolescents, usually as isolated cases.

Bacterial meningitis or septicaemia requires urgent antibiotic treatment.

Again, the signs and symptoms include:

  • Fever (sometimes with cold hands and feet)
  • Joint or muscle pain
  • Rapid breathing
  • Severe Headaches
  • Drowsiness
  • Discomfort from bright light
  • Neck stiffness
  • Vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhoea
  • Non-blanching rash may appear which may be tiny red pinpricks that may develop to purple bruises. This rash does not fade under pressure.

Anyone who believes they are showing symptoms is advised to contact their GP.

With reporting by Michelle Hennessy 

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34 Comments
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    Mute Mary Lyons
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    Jan 10th 2019, 5:50 PM

    Was horrified to find out today that this vaccine is very expensive, and not free to anyone, even those who are on Social Welfare! A lady rang Joe Duffy and told him that she had 4 children to be vaccinated and when she enquired from her GP she was told that this would cost near to €1000! I thought it was outrageous! No wonder this killer bug is creeping back.Surely the vaccine should be free to all!

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    Mute Cathy Carroll
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    Jan 10th 2019, 5:59 PM

    @Mary Lyons: is that not just the men B?

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    Mute Sos
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:03 PM

    @Mary Lyons: Men C has been on the schedule for a while. Men B was only added to the schedule in October 16. Children born before that need to pay privately. The cost of the vaccine is a fair chunk of change to the majority of people not sure why people on social welfare should be given special mention?

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    Mute Jeni Moriarty
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:24 PM

    @Mary Lyons: what !!!!! Wow

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    Mute Mary Lyons
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    Jan 10th 2019, 7:16 PM

    @Sos: I actually meant to say Medical Card! Sorry

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    Mute Christine Hanway
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    Jan 12th 2019, 7:56 AM

    @Mary Lyons: in all fairness, tats what your childrens allowance is for. €140 per child per month. It more a less covers the cost. If I had to skip on a month’s payment of gas and esb and let it roll onto me next bill I would. Id ring them an al tell them exactly what I was doing. I dont understand the public outcry of us not affording it. Unless your living on the absolute bread line something should be able to give in order for you to potentially save your childs life.

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    Mute Lucille Ball
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:42 PM

    I paid privately to get the meningitis B vaccine for my daughter, it cost me €200 but i can sleep easier in my bed.. not everyone can afford it and it should definitely be free to all

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    Mute Green Lentils
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:59 PM

    @Lucille Ball: that’s an outrageous amount

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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Jan 10th 2019, 7:03 PM

    @Green Lentils: a funeral will cost more and cause more heartache, it’s money we’ll spent

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    Mute Green Lentils
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    Jan 10th 2019, 7:31 PM

    @Barry Somers: I completely agree but paying 1200 a month for childcare after a mortgage and 130 for my own meds means I’d have to save for 6 months to get it. Saviour for some and let the rest perish.

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    Mute Ronan O'Keeffe
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:10 PM

    There should really be some form of legislation forcing parents to vaccinate their children. Vacations work and protect us and our loved ones from otherwise pretty horrific diseases and illnesses. Even those who for legit medical reasons cannot be vaccinated are somewhat protected by herd immunity. The reason we live so long these days can be boiled down to vaccines and antibiotics. It’s beyond stupid and negligent to not get these vaccines.

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    Mute Green Lentils
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:13 PM

    @Ronan O’Keeffe: they are getting them vaccinated. Meningitis B vaccine isn’t part of the scheduled vaccination programme and costs up to 100 euro and was only mentioned in passing by my doctor as a by the way not as a necessary.

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    Mute Jeni Moriarty
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:26 PM

    @Green Lentils: so should we get that one too ??

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    Mute M to the O to the L
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:27 PM

    @Green Lentils: Mnb is part if the schedule for babies born since October 2016 so is free for those babies. It must be paid for for children born before that date. Personally I don’t know why they don’t retrospectively provide vaccines new to the schedule to all for free.

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    Mute Green Lentils
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:32 PM

    @Green Lentils: sorry I’ll correct myself it wasn’t part of the schedule until after Oct 16

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    Mute Karen Wellington
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:34 PM

    @M to the O to the L: because this the HSE & the DOH, spending a comparatively small amount of money now to save both lives and much much more money (cost of treating anyone who contracts this strain of meningitis) further done the line would go against their core principles of actively fcuking up the health service

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    Mute Green Lentils
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:56 PM

    @Jeni Moriarty: It’s beginning to look that way. My kid was born before Oct and it wasn’t on schedule and the dr just told me it’s there if you want it kind of thing…very casually. I guess now the instances of it are on the up it’s considered more important now..

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    Mute Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin
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    Jan 10th 2019, 8:16 PM

    @Green Lentils: Both Men B and Men C are part of the vaccination programme.

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    Mute Arch Angel
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    Jan 10th 2019, 8:51 PM

    Would anyone trust a surgeon who says “I’ll be with you in just a few minutes, I’m looking at a video on YouTube, I’ve never operated before but what could go wrong?” So why do people insist on getting their expert medical advice from social media, google and the opinion of people they don’t know?
    Meningitis is an illness that can kill very quickly, especially babies, young children, and teenagers. It can leave it’s victims disabled and disfigured. If anyone is comfortable taking that sort of risk with their young children please let me know if you drive anything for a living. Death, disfigurement and disability, when there is a vaccine, nobody is saying it’s guaranteed but the meningitis B vaccine has been shown to be 88% effective. Think about that.
    Many people know about the rash and think if this isn’t present it isn’t meningitis but this often appears after the other symptoms, or not at all.
    When I had meningitis I was a young (ish) man in relatively good health, I had gone to bed believing I had a cold. I was incredibly lucky. Many of family are trained in first aid, my daughter was a qualified paramedic and knew straight away something serious was wrong so an ambulance was called early the following morning.
    There was no rash and I was unconscious. I woke up four days later in ICU in a lot of pain and confused, I didn’t know where I was and what had happened. Trust me this isn’t something you’d want a small child or a teenager you brought into this world to go through, and if they make it through, disabled or disfigured, how are you going to look them in the eye and say, “but they said not to give you the vaccine on Facebook…”

    https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/pubinfo/pcischedule/vpds/menb/

    http://knowmeningitis.ie/

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    Mute Karen Doyle
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    Jan 10th 2019, 5:56 PM

    Ridiculous. Why are parents not vaccinating their babies? They are risking their own health and those of others around them.

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    Mute Alan Currie
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:19 PM

    @Karen Doyle: because they’re a bit dim and often take their medical advice from social media instead of medical professionals.

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    Mute Mary Lyons
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    Jan 10th 2019, 7:29 PM

    @Alan Currie: or maybe they just don’t have the money!

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    Mute Monika Broughill
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    Jan 10th 2019, 8:18 PM

    @Karen Doyle: The men c vaccine has been part of the routine schedule since 2000 but men b , which is the worse of two, has only been added to it in October 2016. All kids born before must be vaccinated privately and as it happens it can cost up to €250/per child.

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    Mute Lucille Ball
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:42 PM

    I paid privately to get the menangitis B vaccine for my daughter, it cost me €200 but i can sleep easier in my bed.. not everyone can afford it and it should definitely be free to all

    20
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    Mute Gary Hughes
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    Jan 10th 2019, 7:06 PM

    @Lucille Ball: Is that 200 for both doses? I was quoted 150 per shot. 2 required apparently so 300 per child. It will be 600 if I go ahead for my two kids, but can’t afford to at the moment with these prices.

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    Mute Mary Lyons
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    Jan 10th 2019, 7:26 PM

    @Gary Hughes: That’s what I have been hearing all day on the radio! So I think even if there was good income coming into the household and you had 3 or 4 children it is a big amount to come by. It should be free for the welfare of the whole community, otherwise not much point in anybody getting it!

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    Mute Nurse on call
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    Jan 10th 2019, 8:16 PM

    Shop around for the vaccine and also ask the nurse to give it not the doctor as some doctors are charging for the administration of the vaccine. I had my first child vaccinated and I shopped around, found it up north in newry for half the price, kept it in a cooler box and got was able to administer it myself as I’m a nurse. Also got both my kids vaccinated against chicken pox. That was 120 in total 60 Euro for each vaccine I think in the long run may save my kids the hardship and me money on painkillers and time off work.

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    Mute Toon Army
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    Jan 10th 2019, 7:35 PM

    So 5 Men shots needed in year 1? A second shot is “sometimes” given. HSE really need to simplify their guidance and give clarity on what is both covered and needed.

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    Mute George O Neill
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    Jan 10th 2019, 7:12 PM

    Where in the country did these cases occur

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    Mute Patricia Roe
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    Jan 10th 2019, 10:32 PM

    I have had all my children vaccinated. It was a time when I felt the government could be trusted and wanted to protect its people and save lives. I don’t trust them now. I look hard at everything they recommend, as sometimes it feels like the more they push – the more suspicious it becomes. I’m glad I don’t have to make those choices now. Parents today want the best for their children – of course they do and the fact that they are willing not to vaccinate says they really don’t trust our government. Between the Catholic Church’s abuse, vaccine trials on orphans, selling babies, scandal after scandal, corruption in our police force (calling Maurice McCabe a paedophile) …. God can you believe anything they say any more. I’m starting to get paranoid.

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    Mute Teddy bear
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    Jan 10th 2019, 6:04 PM

    To do, or not to do….

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