THE mother of a Northside teenager who has campaigned for sufferers of a chronic sleep disorder says she feels vindicated after a report found that the risk of narcolepsy is 13 times higher among those given the swine flu vaccine Pandemrix.
Last month Northside People reported how Mary Fitzpatrick’s son, Ballymun schoolboy Conor Talbot (15), developed narcolepsy which causes him to collapse with sudden loss of muscle tone when he feels any strong emotion.
He also suffers from excessive sleepiness and sleep paralysis, all of which his mother believes developed after he got the swine flu jab Pandemrix.
The recently published 43-page medical report commissioned by the Department of Health found there was
“a true increased risk
? of narcolepsy in young people vaccinated with Pandemrix aged five to 19 years.
“There were mixed emotions when the report came out,
? Ms Fitzpatrick said.
“It was hard to see the link between the vaccine and narcolepsy in writing but we felt vindicated that what’ve been saying all along has been confirmed.
“The night before the report was published Conor was quite upset that the issue was going to be out there and he’d be one of the children in the spotlight.
?
Ms Fitzpatrick was among a number of parents invited into a review of the report with those who carried it out and officials from the Department of Health.
The report noted that it is unlikely that the vaccine alone would be sufficient to explain narcolepsy among young people.
The results are very similar to those seen in similar studies in Sweden and Finland.
Ms Fitzpatrick, who heads the group SOUND (Sufferers of Unique Narcolepsy Disorder), which represents over 30 children and parents, told the Department of Health that they would need to withdraw and consider the findings contained in the report before discussing the matter further.
The group has requested a meeting with the Department of Health again in the next week or so.
“The report has validated what we have fought hard to make medical professionals believe,
? Ms Fitzpatrick told Northside People.
“A lot of the members of SOUND found it very hard to get a diagnosis and it’s been a major uphill battle to get to this point.
“The Department is well aware of our position and how we feel that our children would not have this sleep disorder had they not had the Pandemrix vaccine.
“We are seeking health and educational supports and compensation for the lives they would have had. This is an incurable condition that they will always have to live with and be medicated for.
?
The Department’s chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said health authorities were responding to the needs of children and their families.
He said the Minister for Health will be bringing proposals to Cabinet shortly to comprehensively meet the needs of young people affected.
HSE clinics administered over 900,000 doses of the vaccine in 2009 and 2010, but it is no longer recommended.
Around 27 young people who received the vaccine in Ireland have received a diagnosis of narcolepsy.