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THE HEALTH INFORMATION and Quality Authority (HIQA) is considering the addition of the chickenpox vaccine to the childhood immunisation schedule.
HIQA is to publish an assessment of such a move on the request of the Department of Health, supported by the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC).
It will examine the clinical effectiveness, cost effectiveness, budget impact, ethical and social aspects of expanding the childhood vaccination schedule to include the chickenpox vaccine.
The vaccine inoculates against the varicella-zoster virus, which causes chickenpox and shingles. Chickenpox is a common infectious disease which mainly affects children.
Shingles typically occurs later in life due to reactivation of the virus.
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One case of chickenpox can potentially infect 10 to 12 people.
Dr Conor Teljeur, HIQA’s Chief Scientist, said in a press statement: “A vaccine for chickenpox was first developed almost 50 years ago. Over the last 30 years, a growing number of countries around the world have added the chickenpox vaccine to their routine childhood immunisation schedules.
“In Ireland, the vaccine is currently recommended for non-immune individuals in certain risk groups. Our assessment will examine the impact of adding the vaccine to the childhood immunisation schedule.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised that routine chickenpox immunisation for children should be considered in countries where chickenpox is an important public health burden and there are sufficient resources to vaccinate at least 80% of the population on an ongoing basis.
Within the EU, the annual incidence of chickenpox is typically equivalent to the birth cohort. The total number of births in Ireland annually is approximately 56,000.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has also recommended introducing childhood immunisation for chickenpox, but only after countries have conducted their own assessments.
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@Steve Miller: It doesn’t matter what the quality of the beef is – if it has been exposed in a meat-processing environment and it’s not cooked thoroughly you risk getting the trots. You can sear the surface area of a steak and safely it it rare but any kind of mince is pretty much all surface area.
@Dazz: Why is it that only Ireland and the UK have this issue. Everywhere else you can order a burger as you want it. Also sick and tired of the waiter saying the burger must be at least medium well …it’s the law. One particular occasion had to tell the wait ‘No it’s not the law, it’s that your chef doesn’t make the burgers himself and just buys them in. If he made them himself he would be sure of the contents, and at 19.50 for the burger I don’t expect a burger from a packet’
@Mary Murphy: the big issue with any minced meat, is the bacteria is throughout the meat as it’s been minced, outside and in, that’s why it’s important to cook all burgers to well done to ensure all meet that potentially contains bacteria has been cooked and bacteria killed, otherwise you can’t be sure it’s safe to eat.
Where as with steaks, the meat is not minced so only the outside of the meat needs to be cooked,bacteria will only be on the outside, the steak can be as pink as you like inside.
It’s a health and safety issue, like many others all food establishments should be ensuring its implementation.
If for example you became ill because of a burger not properly cooked, it’s their neck on the line and your health.
@fintolini: Yes you are right in increases the risk. but with properly sourced meat and mince prepared in house a restaurant can serve it. Otherwise steak tartare would be banned! At 19.50 for a burger I would hope the chef is supplying meat from the best and safest sources.
@Steve Miller: I always thought that any meat that has touched the bone must be cooked well done. As you can’t guarantee this with mince meat, it’s better to cook it all well done. I’m probably wrong though.
@Mary Murphy: not sure how convincing that article is. If businesses in NI choose to cook burgers pink, they have to register the fact they are doing this and also put warnings on menu’s etc for customers. Also mentions under no circumstances do they recommend anyone cooking burgers at home, to do anything other than cook all the way through.
There are several steps along the chain to ensure the mince meat is protected from bacteria / germs, I wouldn’t trust that its impossible for any of those steps to fail, simple human error and its broken down. I’m glad Republic of Ireland health and safety have taken the approach that only way to be safe, cook right through regardless.
@fintolini: steak tartare to be banned? I want the choice to eat my meat how I like it and if the restaurant can be sure of how the meat is handled it is no problem. How does every country on the continent do it? Why are we nanny stated to death? Nobody is forcing you to eat meat any way than well done if that’s what you want…why not give me the choice to have the meat how I want it?
@Mary Murphy: I don’t think it’s a case of limiting choice because of how you prefer it, it’s preventing people from getting sick from under cooked food. My point is there are 4-5 different steps in the chain from farm to plate, different business, people. No guarantees.
Best way to be sure, cook right through.
Someone gets ill, at the least they will feel ill, worse they may have a lot more to worry about, they may also sue the business involved, which can lead to closed businesses, lost jobs etc.
Any minced meat, burgers, steak tartare, all face the same issue.
Last point, personally I wouldn’t choose other countries on the continent over Ireland for Health and safety standards, but that’s my own personal choice I guess.
@Mary Murphy: because we live at a time when people will sue if they bite their tongue while eating in a restaurant let alone if they get food poisoning because they demanded a raw burger
@fintolini: i am sick and tired of rules and regulations governing my life. Let me take risks…why do we have to be regulated to death. At the same time people need to take responsibility for their actions…but the authorities take away our control and offer us a safety net for everything.
@Chris Kirk: And what sort of cr-p is used in making sausages? Think of the image of the guy, in white wellies, scraping the floor with a big wide shovel and dumping it into the machine
Anyone who said anything other than fully cooked are taking their lives in their hands (literally). E.Coli 0157 is one of the most dangerous food borne pathogens out there and the risk is highest in red meats. It only takes as little as 10 to infect and possibly kill you. Look at the incident in Scotland in 1997!!!!
It’s less about the quality of the mince and more about the processing, there are more opportunities for it to become contaminated from butchering to processing to when it ends up in your fridge or restaurant. With stake if there is any bacteria on the surface it will
be killed once it hits the pan. With mince the outsides go inside and out again so bacteria can be on the whole patty, that’s why it should always be fully cooked and no pink. It doesn’t have to be cremated but cooked enough that all the pong is gone
Use a meat thermometer an you won’t under cook or overcook your burger. Can be cooked above pasteurisation temp and still show pink and will be beautiful juicy burger
@Ace: fun fact if you as for rare steak they have to cook you quality beef if you ask for it well done they can take one that’s been in the freezer for yonks as you won’t be able to tell :)
I know of 3 places chip shops that reheat the burgers for speed and laziness. There definitely well done and taste absolutely dreadful you’d spot it a mile away a bite out of a bit of lino floor covering in a bun would taste better.
The pinker the better. Medium rare equivalent in a steak. If your eating it any other way then the quality of mince is not worth eating! I’ve never had food poisoning.
I had a bad stomach a while back there so went to the docs, one of the questions she asked was
Have you eaten any rare meat or meat that’s a bit pink or any sushi lately?
Have never eaten either and if I get steak in a restaurant that I ask to be cooked well done and it comes back pink I send it right back.
Just goes to show my instincts on this have been right all along.
@Vincent: i break up cream crackers to dust and mix them in too, got the idea from a jamie oliver cookbook, and i prefer a bit of mozerella or feta in the middle, each to their own. But 100% agree, home made burgers all the way. :-)
Never touched a piece of meat in my entire life. Never had one day sick. Seventy and can run a mile in 5 +mins. It not the beer that is killing the Irish but the meat.
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