One in 12 Irish children have not received the appropriate vaccinations by the time they turn one.
New figures from the HSE say 8% of children haven't received the recommended doses of the 'six in one' vaccine by the time they turn 12 months old.
The figures also show that a tenth of children reach primary school age without having received the recommended 4-in-1 vaccine.
However the HSE says the figures show Ireland now has its highest-ever level of childhood vaccinations.
Key vaccine uptake data
- At 12 months of age 92% of Irish children are appropriately vaccinated. This means that they have had the recommended 3 doses of the 6 in 1 vaccine
- At 24 months of age 96% of Irish children are appropriately vaccinated with the 6 in 1 vaccine. However some children are missing out on other vaccines at this age
- At 24 months 93% of children have had the MMR vaccine, a marked improvement on previous years
- At 4-5 years of age 90% of children received the recommend 4 in 1 vaccine and 89% received a dose of MMR
Health Protection Surveillance Centre specialist in public health medicine, Dr Suzanne Cotter warns, “Some children, teenagers, and adults may still be vulnerable to vaccine preventable diseases because they were never vaccinated, incompletely vaccinated or have lost their immunity as a result of age or illness or duration of time that has elapsed since their immunisation. For some vaccines, booster doses may be needed after a period of time to counteract waning immunity (most commonly tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis/whooping cough)."
The HSE is recommending areas of under vaccination be identified, and targeted for future work.
All childhood vaccines and the administration of these vaccines are free of charge to all children in the country.
