A measles outbreak in Dublin’s north inner city has led to calls for the introduction of mandatory vaccinations.

On Tuesday the HSE confirmed it has dealt with 13 new cases of the disease since July.

It brings the total to 76 for the current year.

In a statement, the HSE said the disease has been transmitted in Dublin hospitals and in “households with poor vaccine uptake.”

Dublin Councillor, Éilis Ryan, has said she plans to table a motion that would oblige children who use shared facilities to be vaccinated against measles.

She said her motion will also calling on the council to help inform and educate people about the benefits of measles vaccinations.

Her motion will call on the council to introduce a mandatory vaccination policy at all of its own leisure centres and also “make a statement as a council that we believe that, nationally the government should take a policy in favour of mandatory vaccination.”

Backlash

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Dr Anthony Staines, professor of health systems at the school of nursing and human sciences in DCU said he is not opposed to the idea – but warned that we need to think about other measures that can improve the uptake.

He said making vaccination mandatory could bring a potential backlash:

“What you could be doing is giving a lot of oxygen to very peculiar views about vaccination,” he said.

“There are a lot of people out there who have very odd beliefs about vaccination which are simply untrue.”

MMR

The HSE has said that all children should receive their first MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccination when they are aged 12-months-old.

All children should get a second dose when are four to five-years-old, normally in junior infants.

Anyone over that age who has yet to receive both jabs should contact their GP.

Dr Staines said Ireland currently has a 92% uptake of the MMR vaccination – however, this must now be increased to 95%.

"I think we need to ramp up our efforts to vaccinate what you might call these harder to reach groups," he said.

"We need to put the resources in; the information systems in and the staff in to do that.

"I think that will push us over the 98% threshold."

Outbreak

The World Health Organisation has warned that more people were diagnosed with measles in Europe in the first six months of 2018 than in the previous two years.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is reporting 41,000 cases across the continent so far this year - with 37 deaths.

That compares to fewer than 5,500 recorded in the whole of 2016.

The 76 cases recorded in Ireland represent a three-fold increase on 2017.

The measles vaccine was first introduced in Ireland in 1985 – a year in which the country saw nearly 10,000 cases of the disease.

By 1991 the number of cases had dropped to 135.