Health minister defends decision not to buy enhanced flu vaccine

Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill urged people to get vaccinated, but defended the decision not to purchase the enhanced flu vaccine, arguing that it has not been overly effective. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has defended not purchasing the enhanced flu vaccine as she warned that the virus will still have a “sting in the tail into January”.

She said the health service believes Ireland is at the “midpoint” of the flu season. There were 600 people in hospital on Sunday with the illness.

It is expected that up to 1,500 people may be in hospital with the flu in the coming weeks due to the virus hitting earlier and more severely than expected.

Ms Carroll MacNeill urged people to get vaccinated, but defended the decision not to purchase the enhanced flu vaccine, arguing that it has not been overly effective.

“We took the advice of the World Health Organization on which vaccination to use, and we got that vaccination,” she told RTÉ radio.

“The enhanced vaccination, there isn't a great deal of evidence that it does provide better protection.

“That sounds like an odd thing to say, but the UK got the enhanced vaccination, and they're in a much more severe flu situation than we are."

Flu vaccine recommended by World Health Organization

She said the vaccination Ireland has is World Health Organization recommended. 

"One of the reasons that we're doing better than the UK, notwithstanding the different vaccination, the more expensive vaccination that they got, is that more of our people are taking it up.

“The best vaccination that you can get is the one that we have available, but you must get it. Of those people who are being hospitalised, three quarters of them are not vaccinated.”

Ms Carroll MacNeill said hospitals are coping “better than expected” at the mid-point of the flu season.

“This flu season will peak over Christmas, we think, but there will still be a sting in the tail into January," she said.

“What we are doing to try to prepare for that impact, is make sure that we are reducing elective work as we normally would during the flu season, to make sure there's as much space as possible.”

Elsewhere, Ms Carroll MacNeill denied pulling funding for blister packs, saying some pharmacies have been “wrongly charging” the State for the products.

Pharmacy fees for medicines in blister packs

The Dáil heard elderly people could face bills of up to €50 per month in pharmacy fees for medicines in blister packs. Blister packs are used to organise medicines by metrics such as time and date.

The Government has been accused of stopping funding for the product. However, the health minister insisted they were never funded.

The State does pay for phased dispensing for more dangerous or addictive medicines, with Ms Carroll MacNeill saying some chemists have been incorrectly providing blister packs under the scheme.

She said some patients have always paid for the product, noting it is a “private service that pharmacies offer”.

“There has been litigation in relation to this as well,” she said.

“It is very clear that this was a wrong practice by some pharmacists. I think the pharmacy union themselves were very keen to make sure that this ended. We have closed the loophole in this agreement.”