ALMOST 500 newly born babies have availed of a BCG vaccination programme for TB since it was introduced as a routine measure at Cork University Maternity Hospital just over a month ago, the HSE South Regional Forum has been told.
However, some 11,126 children still await the BCG vaccination in Cork where the policy of administering the vaccine as a routine measure has only recently been reintroduced after years where it was offered to newborns deemed to be at risk from the disease.
According to Pat Healy, HSE assistant national director Primary, Community and Continuing Care, this figure of 11,126 includes children up to 15 years old, with Cork city accounting for 8,558 of these, north Cork accounting for a further 1,835 and west Cork the remaining 733.
"The priority in terms of our waiting list initiative now is to target infants under the age of one who are the priority at-risk group - the numbers of which would be in the order of 2,360," said Mr Healy.
"In addition, the at-risk group would also include those children whose parents have come to this country from locations where there is a high incidence of TB and those children whose parents or family would have recently been in contact with TB - amounting to some 217.
"These priority at-risk groups are being targeted immediately and it will take approximately seven to eight months to clear the waiting list backlog in the Cork city area where the waiting list is greatest," he added.
Mr Healy told Fine Gael Cllr Tim Lombard, who sought information on the numbers still awaiting vaccination, that there had been a good take-up at additional clinics which had been organised by the HSE South since the summer.
Some 23 additional clinics were held between June and August and a further 13 were held in September with 11 of these in Cork city while a further 12 additional clinics have been held since October to help reduce the backlog, he said.
"A total of 651 children were called to these clinics and of these 493 were vaccinated," said Mr Healy, adding that 89 children failed to attend while a further 69 had vaccination deferred to allow them undergo a Mantoux test to determine if they had latent TB infection.
The HSE South initiative on BCG vaccination comes as public representatives from Cork expressed concern about the increased incidence of TB showing up among people and sought to have the matter raised in Dáil Éireann.
Both Cork North Central Labour TD, Kathleen Lynch, and Cork South Central Fine Gael TD, Deirdre Clune, pointed out in the Dáil that 96 cases of TB were detected in the HSE South area in 2006 while in 2007, there were 110 cases detected including outbreaks at two creches.