Parents will not have been reassured by recent revelations about vaccines, writes Róisín Ingle
The vaccination issue, once an unquestioned part of parenthood, is now a source of serious debate and concern among mothers and fathers of small children.
Controversy has dogged vaccines introduced to the Irish market and uncertainties have been raised about products that were widely accepted in the past.
Over the past few years, one Dublin couple, Russell and Susan Burke from Blackrock, have had more reason to worry about this issue than most.
Writing in today's paper, Mr Burke tells how his daughter Cliona, now 4, received a dose of the oral polio vaccine, given to tens of thousands of children in 1998, which contained serum from a donor who had been diagnosed with variant CJD - the human form of mad cow disease.
While the associated risks were reported to be negligible, it was a traumatic time for the couple: "It was terrible, I was really upset at the time. I knew all the facts, our doctor told us she had greater risk of developing CJD from the food chain, but it was always at the back of my mind," said Susan.
More recently, they heard that their second child, James, may have received a deficient batch of BCG vaccine - a lower strength product than normal - used to prevent tuberculosis. Susan remembers being in the hospital when this injection was administered.
"I remembered the polio vaccine Cliona had been given, the one contaminated with CJD, was produced by a company called Evans/Medeva. The name stuck in my mind," said Susan, a secondary school teacher.
"So when I was in the hospital the day after I had given birth to James and I saw that the BCG was made by Evans Vaccines, I queried it. I was told there was no option except not to vaccinate the baby and I didn't want that. It was a case of use that product or use nothing.
"I am disgusted now that a product by the same company has been shown to be faulty especially after having told the doctor I wasn't happy using it," she said.
The Irish Medicines Board (IMB), which has now suspended the licence of Evans Vaccines, part of the Powderject Group, to bring BCG into the Irish market, said that was a different issue to the polio vaccine scare in 1998.
"There was no way of telling the person who donated blood for use in the product had contracted CJD," explained Dr Joan Gilvarry, IMB medical director. " I understand how parents feel ... but it is still a far bigger decision not to vaccinate than to vaccinate when one considers the risks".
Russell and Susan are still firmly in favour of vaccination, but say they now have more understanding for those with fears of the process.
"It was quite an emotional time when the revelations came out about the polio vaccine, we had thought a lot about our decision and when that happened our confidence took a blow," said Russell, a manager in a bank.
"Now, just when we had started to get on with our lives and try to forget, this other vaccine has been shown to be deficient.
"It doesn't cause a health risk, and we can always just revaccinate, but this kind of thing just doesn't do anything to reassure people that vaccination as recommended by the Department of Health is the best way to go."
They say they would have greater scepticism now about how products are selected for the market and the regulations that govern the companies that produce them.
Susan, who says is she not normally a worrier, is anxiously following reports in the media about potential links between the MMR vaccine (for mumps, measles and rubella) and autism.
When James is 15 months old, she will arrange for the vaccine to be administered to him in separate doses "at my own expense" to minimise any risks.