BABIES BORN in Cork are finally receiving the routine BCG vaccination against TB after a 36-year gap in the service.
The vaccination is a routine part of neonatal care in most other parts of the country, but was withdrawn in Cork in 1972 over a funding issue. Calls were made for its reintroduction after a major outbreak of TB at a Cork creche last year accounted for 21 of the 101 cases reported nationally.
The Health Service Executive recently confirmed to Cork Fine Gael TD Deirdre Clune that it started a neonatal service to administer the BCG vaccine to babies in the Cork area on October 13th. Ms Clune says it is "utterly disgraceful" that a waiting list of 10,000 newborns was allowed to develop in Cork in the wake of recent TB cases.
It is understood some families have sought appointments at clinics in other parts of the county, in some cases without giving their address.
"The fact that a situation was allowed to develop where babies were denied the BCG vaccine solely on the basis that they were born in Cork was nothing short of a disgrace," added Ms Clune.
"In recent months, Cork parents have been forced to go to other counties to have their babies given the BCG vaccine. These parents resorted to this out of fear of the consequences of their child not receiving the vaccine."
Earlier this year, Fine Gael accused Minister for Health Mary Harney of failing to recognise the health risks posed by TB after it emerged that many newborn babies and toddlers were awaiting vaccination in Cork.
Tuberculosis is a treatable infectious disease. After having been a scourge in the 1950s, it was virtually eradicated in Ireland.
But the numbers of cases have been creeping up again in the 2000s.
The national immunisation guidelines state that the effectiveness of BCG in preventing TB has varied in reported studies over the years but is probably most consistently effective against TB meningitis and miliary TB, with protection lasting about 15 years.