The Minister for Health Simon Harris has openly slammed anti-vaccine groups accusing them of scaremongering and deliberately providing inaccurate information that encourages people not to get important life saving vaccine’s.
Minister Harris’s comments come as he was speaking at an Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association information event at the RCPI to mark world immunisation day.
Minister Harris who insisted that all vaccine’s provided and approved by the Department of Health are safe and encouraged people to listen doctors and qualified experts as they are the only ones capable of giving medical advice.
Mr Harris also revealed he is alarmed by the growing trend of inaccurate information being provided in Ireland and abroad which has led to a low take-up of the HPV cancer vaccine and treatments for other conditions.
Minister Harris also claimed the information being put forward by the groups “with no medical qualification whatsoever” is putting vulnerable people at risk and must not and should not be listened to by the public.
Mr Harris explained:”I’m not in any way qualified to give advice on vaccinations, but the people who are qualified are doctors, scientists, the European Medicines Agency, our medical community here in Ireland and the World Health Organisation.”
“Sadly what we have seen in recent times are people who are not doctors, not scientists, not medical experts giving advice that runs counter to all the medical information available.”
“That’s not harmless, that has a real impact.”
“We have vaccines in this country that can save lives, we have a vaccine that can prevent our young people who can prevent young girls dying of cancer, and yet we have misinformation, scare-mongering and quite frankly nonsense being given out by people with no medical qualification whatsoever,”