INTRODUCTION – SCHEDULE – DATA SOURCES – HISTORY
📊 There are now 50 vaccines recommended to under 5s in Ireland, an increase from 38 in 2023. A further 17 vaccines are recommended between aged 5 and 17, bringing the total to 67 vaccines for under 18 year olds.
👉 Vaccination is not mandatory in Ireland. The decision is yours and should be made free from pressure or coercion.
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CURRENT HSE RECOMMENDED VACCINES For pregnant women and babies born after 1 October 2024 Total during pregnancy: 5 vaccines | Total under 5s: 50 vaccines plus vitamin K injection |
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| PREGNANCY 3–4 injections: 5 vaccines |
• Boostrix – diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus • Quadrivalent influenza • Covid-19 |
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| AT BIRTH 2 injections: 1 vaccine |
• Konakion – vitamin K injection • Nirsevimab (Beyfortus) RSV – for babies born between September and February |
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| 2 MONTHS 3 injections, 1 oral dose: 9 vaccines |
• Infanrix Hexa (6-in-1) – diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, Hib, Hep B • Rotarix – rotavirus • Bexsero – meningococcal B • Prevenar 13 – pneumococcal |
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| 4 MONTHS 2 injections, 1 oral dose: 8 vaccines |
• Infanrix Hexa (6-in-1) : diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, Hib, Hep B • Rotarix – rotavirus • Bexsero – meningococcal B |
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| 6 MONTHS 2 injections: 7 vaccines |
• Infanrix Hexa (6-in-1) : diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, Hib, Hep B • Prevenar 13 – pneumococcal |
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| 12 MONTHS 3 injections: 5 vaccines |
• M-M-RvaxPro – measles, mumps, rubella • Bexsero – meningococcal B • Varivax – varicella (chickenpox) |
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| 13 MONTHS 3 injections: 8 vaccines |
• Infanrix Hexa (6-in-1) diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, Hib, Hep B • Menjugate – meningococcal C • Prevenar 13 – pneumococcal |
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| 2 to 4 YEARS 1 annual nasal spray: 3 vaccines |
• Fluenz nasal spray – annual influenza vaccine | |
| JUNIOR INFANTS 3 injections, 1 nasal spray: 9 vaccines |
• Tetravac – diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio • M-M-RvaxPro – measles, mumps, rubella • Varivax – varicella (chickenpox) • Fluenz nasal spray – annual influenza vaccine |
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❓ Are Our Children Healthier?
One would expect, with all this intervention, that our children would be healthier than ever. However, this is not the case. The question needs to be asked; is the growing vaccine schedule contributing to the alarming increase in health issues among children, such as allergies, autoimmune disorders, chronic diseases, learning disabilities and autism? Is our children’s overall health being affected by an overzealous approach to eradicating infectious disease? Despite the fact that the childhood schedule of vaccination has been in existence since the 1980s, there is no study confirming the overall benefits of childhood vaccines to child health. There are some isolated studies such as on health outcomes and mortality rates in vaccinated versus unvaccinated populations but no overall evaluation.
🧪 Evidence & Research Gaps
Since the vaccine schedule begins before an infant can speak, it is difficult to assess how a vaccine may have affected a child, as there is no clear baseline of the child’s health beforehand. Many parents are unaware of the full range of possible side effects, so when their child becomes ill after vaccination, they often don’t make the connection. This likely explains why nearly 99% of side effects go unreported. Even when parents suspect a link, confirming that a vaccine caused a side effect is nearly impossible.
The vaccine articles, organised by timeline, offers information on the side effects and ingredients of all recommended vaccines on the childhood schedule. By comparing vaccine side effects with disease risk, this comprehensive resource helps parents make informed decisions for themselves and their families. For those who would prefer a printed copy of this, all this information and more has been compiled into a handy book called The Vaccine Booklet.
In modern developed countries like Ireland, where sanitation and living conditions have improved considerably, the diseases being vaccinated against are rarely serious anymore. Effective treatments are also now available for many of these diseases, eliminating one of the primary justifications for widespread vaccination.
The evidence that exposure to childhood infectious diseases may play a beneficial role in strengthening the immune system, providing protection against more serious conditions including cancer later in life also needs to be considered.
Vaccine safety, ethical concerns and potential conflicts of interest, along with the relationships between regulatory bodies and the industries they oversee, add layers of complexity to this issue. The lack of double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled studies, which are standard for other drug safety testing but not vaccines, also raises growing ethical concerns. These topics are covered in detail in The Vaccine Booklet as well as presenting the facts and data in a clear, comprehensive format that busy parents can easily understand.
Public health promotes childhood vaccination based on herd immunity, which protects non-immune individuals through the immunity of others. However, there is no evidence that vaccine-induced immunity effectively creates herd immunity.
💡 Vaccination is an individual choice and is not compulsory in Ireland. Your child does not need vaccinations to attend public schools and creches. Whatever your choice, ensure it’s informed and one you feel comfortable with. Taking responsibility for your health and the health of those who depend on you is essential. Your health practitioner is under obligation to give you all information necessary in order for you to give full informed consent so be prepared to ask questions. Read widely from a variety of sources and equip yourself with the knowledge needed to make the best decision for you and your child. This important decision should be yours alone, not influenced by those who may have something to gain.
📚Data Sources for The Vaccine Booklet
Case data
Data on case incidences has been gathered from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). Where appropriate and when possible, data specific to children under 5 is used. When under 5s data is unavailable, information for the general population is utilised instead. The data is only as good as what was collected by public health officials at the time. More data is collected for diseases that are under surveillance.
Mortality data
Mortality data was sourced from the Central Statistics Office (www.cso.ie) through the Annual Reports on Marriages, Births and Deaths. A comprehensive spreadsheet was created, incorporating all relevant disease-related data from 1922 to 2020. All graphs and charts presented are derived from this dataset.
Disease Information
Disease information has been gathered from the Health Service Executive (www.hse.ie), Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC.ie), World Health Organisation (www.who.int), European Centre for Disease Control (www.ecdc.europa.eu/en) and www.meningitis.org.
Vaccine schedule information
Vaccine schedule information is from the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC).
Patient Information Leaflets
The patient information leaflets are from www.medicines.ie or Health Protection Regulatory Authority (HPRA).
Vaccine side effect frequency
Frequency of side effects can be found in the patient information leaflets as follows:
- Very common – more than 1 in 10 people (10%)
- Common – up to 1 in 10 people (1% – 10%)
- Uncommon – up to 1 in 100 people (1%)
- Rare – up to 1 in 1,000 people (0.1%)
- Very rare – up to 1 in 10,000 people (0.01%)
- Extremely rare – < 1 in 10,000 people (0.01%)
- Frequency not known – usually applies to adverse events experience outside clinical trials after the product has been brought to market (post marketing).
📖 A Brief History of Vaccines
Before vaccinations became widely available, the well documented seven classic infectious diseases — measles, scarlet fever, rubella, Dukes’ disease, fifth disease (erythema infectiosum), roseola and chickenpox — were common in childhood and known for causing characteristic skin rashes. Most of these diseases were once considered a “rite of passage” or a common part of growing up. Once children recovered from these diseases, they typically developed lifelong immunity. Parents and doctors saw these diseases as part of the body’s process of developing immunity and growing stronger against future infections. Chickenpox parties were common not so long ago, where parents deliberately exposed children to the virus to have them contract the disease at a younger, less risky age and build immunity.
With the improvement of living conditions these infectious diseases are seldom a major concern. While the development of antibiotics and other treatments likely played a role, the most significant factor in reducing death from infectious disease was the improvement in living conditions, especially sanitation, which is widely acknowledged as a key risk factor for such diseases. It would be inaccurate to credit vaccines for the decline in mortality when the majority of the reduction occurred before vaccines were introduced. Measles had reduced by over 95% before vaccination was introduced in 1985.
Notably, scarlet fever, despite the absence of a vaccine, has transitioned from being a fatal disease to one that is easily manageable.
