About 100 submissions have been made by victims who suffered adverse vaccine reactions to a group which will examine the full extent of vaccine damage in Ireland.
The submissions were lodged with the Vaccine Damage Steering Group, formed six years ago based on recommendation by a Joint Oireachtas Committee that a no-fault compensation scheme be established for the small number of children who were adversely affected by vaccinations. Additionally, the group wanted submissions from those affected to gauge opinion on the issue of vaccine damage.
Although the details of those who made submissions are not yet available, the scheme relates to a number of children who were damaged by a 3-in-1 immunisation against diphtheria, polio and tetanus (DTP) in the late 1960s and 1970s. The victims are now in their 30s and are in the care of family members. The number of those who were affected by other vaccinations is supposedly smaller.
There has only been one court compensation payout linked to the DTP vaccine. Kenneth Best from Cork received the vaccine in 1969 and suffered irreparable brain damage. His family was awarded a record €2.75 million in 1992.
Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten, who has been campaigning for a national vaccine injury compensation scheme for some time, said that when other families tried to take similar action, they had insufficient medical records and appealed to the State to investigate the matter.
According to Mr Naughten, dependants of the victims have not received adequate support to look after those affected and he "hoped that the expert group make the appropriate recommendations on the submissions and act upon them swiftly" as victims and their families had waited a long time for closure on the matter.
Although the Department of Health completed a study of vaccination compensation schemes in other countries in 2004, a decision on establishing an Irish compensation scheme has not yet been made and Ireland remains one of few European countries not to have a vaccine damage compensation scheme in place.