Meningitis Trust welcomes roll-out of pneumococcal vaccine

13 February 2008

In response to a statement by Health Minister Mary Harney, reported in the Irish Medical Times on 8th February, Carole Nealon, General Manager of the Meningitis Trust says;

‘We welcome the news from Mary Harney that the pneumococcal vaccine is now scheduled for September. The Meningitis Trust has been campaigning for this vaccine for some time’, explained Carole Nealon, General Manager of the Trust, ‘and we were very disappointed when the original target date of Summer 2007 was not achieved. However, following Ms Harney’s statement, and her confirmation that the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has published the necessary guidelines, we look forward to the vaccine being added to the schedule at the earliest possible date in September.’

Carole went on to say ‘Pneumococcal meningitis is a devastating disease – approximately 20% of those who get it will die and a further 25% will suffer severe after-effects such as brain damage, blindness, deafness and, where septicaemia has occurred, limb loss. This vaccine will help save lives and will significantly reduce the burden of the disease.

We would urge people to continue to be alert to the signs and symptoms of meningitis, however, as we still don’t have a vaccine for meningococcal group B, the most common bacterial cause of the disease. As such, there’s still a lot of work to be done to eradicate the disease.”