'It’s one of the most contagious diseases': Vaccination catch-up amid measles scare

A national vaccination catch-up programme is to take place amid fears of a measles outbreak, as Ireland’s vaccination rate falls below the World Health Organisation’s recommended rate.

Dr John Sheehan, a GP at Blackpool Bridge Surgery and Fianna Fáil councillor for Cork City North-West, said that Cork was “lucky in a sense” to have a higher vaccination rate than other areas in Ireland.

“The vaccination rate is 90% in Cork, in other parts of the country it’s as low as 70%, but we need a rate of over 95% so there is some concern,” he explained. 

“The problem is that measles is very contagious, every one infected person can spread it to approximately 15 others so it’s one of the most contagious diseases. People can be quite sick from it. I have seen just one case in 20 years but that individual was very sick and needed to be hospitalised, and there can be consequences such as hearing loss, brain damage and pneumonia with measles.”

Due to the ongoing outbreaks in the UK and across Europe, there is a heightened awareness of measles among clinicians in Ireland.

A fifth measles case in Ireland was confirmed over the weekend, bringing the number of cases so far this year higher than the total number for all of 2023.

A HSE spokesperson told The Echo that they are finalising plans for the broader rollout of a proactive MMR vaccine catch-up programme, which will “prioritise the following groups: Children and young adults, healthcare workers, and underserved groups such as refugees, applicants seeking protection and the homeless community.”

Dr Sheehan welcomed the catch-up programme, explaining that children are a target group as many have missed their routine vaccinations due to covid lockdowns. People in their late teens and early twenties also have a low vaccination rate he said, explaining: “When they were born it was around the time of the scare, which has since been disproven, linking the MMR vaccine to autism.”

People in this age group such as students tend to congregate in large groups, meaning that infection would spread quickly, he said, adding that other congregated settings such as homeless shelters and places where Ukrainians and other IPAs are being housed are also being targeted he said. Nursing home are not a target, as anyone born before 1978 is considered immune, he said, explaining “the vast majority of them would have had it as a child, a significant number of people were very sick with it, so it’s not a disease to be taken lightly.”

There is also concern around people who are immunosuppressed, such as those undergoing chemotherapy, he said. 

“Their immunity would be quite low, so we’re encouraging people to get vaccinated for themselves and children but also for protecting those more vulnerable people.”

The HSE is advising people to call their GPs and check if they and their children are vaccinated, and Dr Sheehan said that his surgery has had lots of these calls, adding “one of the benefits of having good IT systems is that for most of our patients we have records going back over twenty years and can check very quickly for them.”

In relation to infection control, he urged anyone showing symptoms of measles to call ahead before going to their GP.

“If a parent thought that their child had symptoms of measles, the last thing we want is someone sitting in a waiting room with it, there is a protocol such as bringing them in through a separate entrance, not using the room for two hours after etc, so we would ask them to ring first so we could try to see them towards the end of a surgery or see them separately.”