MEASLES WARNING
Galway can do better in measles vaccine uptake
THE uptake of the measles vaccination (MMR) in Co Galway is one of the best in the West, but the rate has still fallen over the past few years and is below the recommended rate of the World Health Organisation.
The fall in vaccination rates in Ireland and some other European countries has sparked concern that it could lead to outbreaks of the highly infectious disease here.
Ten years ago, the HSE was delighted to share the news that childhood immunisation rates in Ireland were the highest levels ever recorded. However, the numbers availing of the triple vaccine – protecting against mumps, measles and rubella – has fallen over the past years, particularly during and since the Covid-19 pandemic.
In counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon uptake of the vaccine is below the target of 92.9 percent while nationally figures are below 90 per cent.
Speaking to The Tuam Herald, Dr Neil Hyland, Specialist Registrar in Public Health Medicine in HSE West, said while Galway’s uptake isn’t the worst, it needed to improve.
He said that Ireland has seen very few cases of measles in recent years and those that have been recorded, were “imported”, in that a person returned to the country with the infection.
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