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Irish health minister expresses concern over shortage of BCG vaccine

Xinhua, August 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

A vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) will not be available again in Ireland until later this year or early next year, according to Irish Health Minister Leo Varadkar on Thursday.

According to opposition parliamentarian Gerry Adams, the difficulties had been known by the Department of Health since last year. But Adams said that despite this, it had failed to identify an alternate supplier to provide the vaccine in the short term.

As a result, at least 50,000 babies and potentially many more would not receive their Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine when appropriate, Adams said.

The Irish health minister said production difficulties, delivery delays, and sealing problems had resulted in the BCG vaccine, which is produced in Denmark, not being available.

In a statement, Ireland's Department of Health said other countries were experiencing similar delays in acquiring supplies of the vaccine from the Danish company, the only licensed supplier of the vaccine in the European Union (EU).

The statement said production had been suspended in 2014 pending an extensive investigation regarding a possible problem with the capping of the vials.

It added that the investigation had now been concluded and product produced during 2014 was being released.

But it would take some time to release all the batches produced, the department said.

The department also said the country's health authorities would arrange appointments for children to attend clinics when the vaccine supply was restored. Endit