THE roll-out of a new Laura Brennan HPV Vaccination Catch-up programme and the increase in vaccination rates has been described as a “game changer in Irish health”.
That’s the view of her parents, Larry and Bernie, who have vigorously continued their daughter’s courageous advocacy work before she died from this cancer, with the help of their three children, Colin, Fergal and Kevin.
“In the long term, it will result in a big savings as cervical cancer treatment costs a huge amount. Vaccines do save lives, it could have saved Laura’s. We promised Laura we would continue her work after she died until we got to where we did.”
Laura’s key message when she was awarded the 2019 Clare Person of the Year Award was to “live the best possible life you can”, which is also on her gravestone.
Larry stressed ordinary people can make a difference, recalling his son, Kevin and some friends came up with placing the HPV logo on sporting jerseys, which resulted in 10,000 being made around the country.
This is still resonating with local and national sporting organisations whose players are wearing the logo with pride.
“It is great to see people are now proud to wear the vaccine logo. When we started out it was a dirty word. The HSE carried out focus groups which were concentrating on getting young people to take the vaccine.
“But they changed it around after we convinced them to target parents and grandparents to encourage teenagers to sign the school form to take the vaccine.
“Everyone can be an advocate now in homes throughout the country to make sure their children are vaccinated.”
The couple are very grateful for all the help they received from family, politicians and medical people that helped bring their campaigning work on behalf of Laura to a successful fruition.
The only low point was a very distressing comment from a well known reporter who referred to the “alleged death of Laura Brennan” after she had died and before she was buried.
They met Health Minister Stephen Donnelly in a conference room in UHL on Thursday morning.
Bernie recalled she got a phone call from one of Minister Donnelly’s press advisors on the week of what would have been Laura’s 30 birthday, but the advisor wasn’t aware of her birthday.
The mother-of-four was asked if the family would mind if the new vaccination programme was called the Laura Brennan Catch-Up Vaccine Programme.
“I was bowled over and I was delighted with this. The time frame was too short to have this programme rolled out by September 30. It was announced on Thursday, a week after Laura’s birthday. The department did this very quickly.”
Larry admitted the campaign has evolved from the time Laura was alive when she campaigned to increase the vaccination rate among girls.
The HPV Vaccine was approved in 2006 and Ireland availed of it in 2010. When the vaccination levels started falling, Laura contacted the HSE to support their campaign in 2017.
The week before Laura died, she announced the number of girls being vaccinated in secondary schools had increased to 70%.
Following her death, the HPV Vaccine was introduced for boys in First Year at secondary school.
Bernie and Larry started getting numerous messages from teenagers in Second and Third Year who were refused the vaccine when they requested it.
Bernie recalled young women who didn’t opt for the vaccine in First Year due to misinformation faced the prospect of paying up to €600 when they tried to avail of a catch-up jab after watching Laura on the “This is Me” documentary.
The couple organised a small group and started writing letters and making phone calls to address this anomaly.
Larry recalled they started their campaign in late 2020 with a letter to the National Immunisation Office outlining the difficulties the national policy of only giving the vaccine to First Year students was causing for teenagers.
Trying to navigate their way through all the health agencies and committees proved to be difficult. However, deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn provided them with the best pathway to start with the Minister of Health, who has to consult with NIC to see if a catch-up programme is feasible and can be included in national health plan.
After HIQA are asked for its input, they were told it goes back to the minister who decides if he wants to include it in the Budget.
Larry recalled Professor Karina Butler of NIAC and Professor Mary Horgan in NIO were very helpful and fully engaged with them.
Following extensive engagement between health agencies and the Department of Health, Minister Donnelly sanctioned the catch up programme last May, requesting the HSE to have a report on his desk before the end of October outlining their plans for the roll-out.
It is expected some of the programme will go live on or before Cervical Cancer Awareness Day on November 17 with a further extension early next year.
Larry praised Minister Donnelly for completing all the consultation with various health agencies relatively quickly inside the last 12 months.
Last June, Larry and Bernie were filmed as part of a World Health Organisation three-minute information video promoting the vaccine for a conference in Israel, which was attended by 53 Health Ministers and was greeted with a standing ovation.
A commitment was given to do everything possible to try and eliminate cervical cancer in countries by 2030.
In September 2018, the WHO filmed Laura having a treatment and speaking about the importance of vaccination in another promotional video.
Laura was awarded a WHO award posthumously, which her parents accepted at the ninth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in recognition of her outstanding contribution to improving the health of people in the European in Copenhagen in September 17, 2019.
Bernie also spoke virtually at a health conference in Romania during Covid-19 restrictions in a bid to improve vaccination rates.
While school wasn’t Laura’s favourite place, Bernie said she was delighted to receive an honorary doctorate from UCD.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.