The Dublin City Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, has asked a consultant in infectious diseases to examine four expert opinions and the available medical literature on the alleged reaction to the whooping-cough vaccine.
He told an adjourned inquest into the death of Mr Alan Duffy (22), of Howth Road, Dublin, yesterday that this was necessary as the four expert opinions he had received were diametrically opposed.
Dr Farrell said he had asked Dr Karina Butler, a consultant in infectious diseases at Our Lady's Hospital, Crumlin, to examine the opinions and literature and give a consensus report as well as arguments for and against the proposition that the vaccine could be dangerous.
He had sought opinions from Prof Peter Behan, a neurologist at Glasgow University; Dr John Wilson, a retired consultant living at Great Ormond Street in London; Prof John Stevenson of the Royal College for Sick Children, Glasgow; and Dr Niall O'Donovan, a retired professor of paediatrics at Trinity College Dublin.
At a previous hearing Mr Dunne's mother said her son had died for her after getting the three-in-one vaccine as a baby in the mid-1970s. But he had lived on with severe brain damage until he was 22.
Dr Farrell said he hoped Dr Butler's report would be available at the end of March and adjourned the inquest to a provisional date of April 7th.