DPC gets vaccine record alteration complaint

Gardaí have forwarded a complaint for the personal attention of the Data Protection Commissioner that files relating to vaccine trials in Bessborough mother and baby home were altered in 2002.

The complaint was made by Mari Steed after the Irish Examiner revealed in November that the files of mothers and children used in the 1960/61 4-in-1 vaccine trial were altered in 2002 — just weeks after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse sought discovery of records from the religious order running the home.

Ms Steed was one of the children used in the trial and was subsequently adopted in the US. Her natural mother’s file is one of those listed as having been changed. Gardaí investigating the matter have written to her to say the complaint has been forwarded for the “personal attention” of Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon.