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A TD has warned of “serious repercussions” after it was revealed the child vaccination uptake has dropped into the WHO red zone.

Statistics from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show up to 25% of infants and toddlers are not receiving shots in parts of Ireland.

Sinn Fein spokeswoman Louise O’Reilly said: “We need to get past all the misinformation on social media and the anti-vaxxers and talk to parents face to face.”

Fears are growing highly-contagious diseases such as measles could run rampant again, with experts warning of a possible epidemic.

Officials from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control have recorded 10,958 cases of the illness – which can prove fatal – across the continent from January to July 14 this year.

The World Health Organisation said Ireland is in the red zone – a danger level normally associated with Third World countries. It is the worst performance in over a decade and the first time the country has been in the range since the anti-vax movement began.

(Image: Wikimedia Commons)

EU countries worst affected are France, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland and Lithuania – but the slump in Ireland means we could soon be facing an epidemic of our own. The number of measles cases reported tripled last year with 77 cases – up from just 25 in 2017.

Ms O’Reilly said a campaign is urgently needed to raise awareness.

She told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “We need to go out and talk directly to parents and make it more accessible – be that mobile vaccination clinics or out-of-hours GP service.

“If we lose herd immunity for simple diseases like measles there will be serious repercussions.

“We need to explain to parents the importance because at the end of the day parents will do what they think is right for their children.”

In the first four months of the year, there was a decline in uptake of most vaccines for children measured at 24 months of age.

National uptake rates for all vaccines (except Rotavirus 2 doses) declined by up to 3% from January to March, compared to the previous quarter.

Specifically in relation to two doses of MenC (which should be given at six months and another dose at 13 months), only 10 areas reported on the proportion of children that received two doses.

The UK last month lost their “measle-free” status after cases jumped from 284 in 2017 to 991 cases in 2018.

WHO’s Kate O’Brien said: “We are backsliding, we are on the wrong track.

“This is the alarm bell ringing around the world – achieving high national coverage is not enough, it has to be achieved in every family for every child.”

A HSE spokeswoman said collation of data and vaccination uptake estimates may not accurately reflect the true rate because of delays within the system.