TB vaccine would have cost just €16K

A TUBERCULOSIS vaccine routinely given to newborns, with the exception of babies born in Cork, would have cost the Government little more than €16,500 when the Southern Health Board (SHB) sought funding in 2001.

The request for funding for the vaccine, known as the BCG, was twice turned down by the Department of Health between 2001 and 2003, when the SHB submitted revised costings.

Cork, the only county in which the vaccine is not routinely given to newborns, has since witnessed the largest single outbreak of the disease in living memory. Between March and May of this year, 21 people were diagnosed with TB at two Cork creches, including three adults and 18 children.