World Immunisation Week was marked last month at the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, (RCPI), by Minister for Health, Simon Harris T.D., who launched a new publication, Vaccines for Life, on behalf of the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA). The publication discusses the importance, benefits, safety and future of vaccines, for all stages of life. Vaccines are universally accepted as one of the most successful and cost-effective public health interventions available. Up to three million lives are saved each year and a further three-quarters of a million more protected from the devastating consequences of vaccinepreventable diseases. High vaccination rates are necessary to sustain the protection of individuals and wider population, as much in Ireland as around the world. The publication also aims to address some of the myths about vaccines. Knowing the facts provides people with the first step towards protecting themselves, their families and the public. Speaking at the launch, Minister Harris said, “Vaccines save lives, there is no doubt. But we also know that we have a problem with those who wish to scaremonger and misinform when it comes to vaccination. Uptake of the HPV vaccine has fallen to a worrying 50% and there is no doubt that this is related to this scaremongering and misinformation. I take my advice on vaccinations from the Chief Medical Officer, from the European Medicines Agency, from the World Health Organisation and the medical community – not from random social media accounts.
“If people want to give medical advice on vaccinations, they should become doctors. If not, they need to get out of the way and stay away from our public health policy. We have vaccines in this country that can prevent death. We have a vaccine that can prevent girls from dying of cancer and yet we have uninformed nonsense interfering with medical efforts to save lives. We must not leave young girls exposed to the very real and unnecessary risk of developing cervical cancer at a later stage in life.”
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