The director of the National Disease Surveillance Centre called yesterday for special incentives to ensure children are immunised against measles.
Dr Darina O'Flanagan's plea came after the Midland Health Board confirmed that more than 20 cases of measles had been notified in recent weeks. It urged parents whose children had not been vaccinated against the disease to do so immediately, warning that the consequences of failing to do so could prove fatal.
Dr O'Flanagan said 100 cases of measles had been reported across the State in the last seven weeks, more than three times the norm. "Most of these cases have occurred in south-west Dublin, the midlands and the Western Health Board region and are directly related to the low uptake of the MMR vaccine," she said.
"We are increasingly concerned that we will see a repeat of the large outbreak we had in 2000."
At that time 1,230 children in the Eastern region were infected. It led to three deaths and just over 350 hospital admissions.
Dr O'Flanagan also said there was a need for a system to identify children at risk in the event of a measles outbreak ."With the continued poor level of take-up of the MMR vaccine, it is time to examine incentives used in other countries to improve it.
"In Australia, for example, a certain proportion of child benefit payment is linked to immunisation take-up. Low immunisation take-up is putting lives at risk".
To be fully protected children need two doses of the MMR vaccine, one at about 15 months and a second aged five to six.
Immunisation rates have been falling since a study claimed to link vaccination with the onset of autism. Dr Flanagan said subsequent studies had ruled out any such link.
Take-up rates of the MMR vaccine are as low as 45 per cent in some areas. The minimum level of vaccination required to prevent outbreaks of measles and other infectious diseases is 95 per cent.