Newborns missing TB jab due to shortages

ROUTINE vaccination of newborns to protect against TB has been suspended at two of the country’s largest maternity hospitals on foot of a Europe-wide shortage of the BCG vaccine.

Both the National Maternity Hospital at Holles St and the Rotunda Hospital, which between them deliver close to 1,500 babies each month, have been hit by the shortage.

Yesterday a spokesperson for the Health Service Executive said the vaccine had been unavailable at both hospitals since early November. He said BCG vaccination clinics at the Coombe maternity hospital had been scaled back from three per week to one.