IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter
Since around 1997, investigators have been trying to get to the bottom of vaccine trials, writes Conall Ó Fátharta
THE current commission of investigation into mother-and-baby homes is the second State inquiry that will attempt to examine the issue of vaccine trials carried out on children in the homes.
Further revelations in the Irish Examiner this week showed that the files of vaccine trial victims in Bessborough mother-and-baby home were altered in 2002 — just weeks after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse sought discovery of records from the order running the home. The revelation will no doubt be examined as part of the latest inquiry.
The history of how and why large-scale vaccine trials were carried out on children in care in Ireland is still emerging, usually through media exposés.
The fact vaccine trials were carried out on children in mother-and-baby homes and other institutional settings first hit the headlines in the early 1990s.
Questions were raised in the Dáil on the subject but it wasn’t until 1997 that then health minister Brian Cowen gave assurances the matter would be examined.
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