HSE urges parents to get children vaccinated as it reports rise in measles cases
There has been an increase in the number of children and young adults with measles.
In the first 15 weeks of the year, there were 48 cases of measles in Ireland, along with 898 cases of mumps.
The HSE is advising parents to get their children vaccinated at the start of International Infection Prevention Week today.
HSE Clinical Lead for Antibiotic Resistance, Professor Martin Cormican, said vaccines are vital.
Prof. Cormican said: "We still see people coming to hospital with measles and we saw the vaccine prevent those diseases. It makes you so sad to see a child ill with something that could so easily have been prevented.
"They are ill, they are miserable, they are missing school and measles sometimes has very serious complications and to see a child like this, it's such a pity that this all could have been prevented by the vaccine."
The theme of this year's campaign is "Vaccines are Everybody’s Business".
Prof. Cormican added: "This year the theme is vaccination and it’s important to ensure that we, as health care professionals, are aware of the role vaccination plays in protecting patient health and the health of our families. It’s also very important that healthcare staff get the annual flu vaccination to help protect patients and themselves from getting flu.
“It is essential that we all clean our hands thoroughly to reduce the risk of infection spreading. We often think we have washed our hands properly but have a look at a experiment (in the video below) and you will be surprised.”
