Last week a new inquest was ordered into the death of a brain-damaged man, whose parents maintain that the three-in-one vaccine had fatal consequences. Ali Bracken talks to the family
For five short months, Vera Duffy had a bouncing baby boy. Then she watched his slow and painful deterioration that ended with his death at the age of 22, severely physically and mentally handicapped.
She maintains the Pertussis three-in-one vaccine had fatal consequences for her son. "He was perfectly healthy up until he had that first vaccination at five months."
In the following weeks, Vera watched her infant Alan's screaming fits, continuous vomiting and "jerking of the arms, which we later learned were seizures".
He was taken to a doctor who, Vera says, assured her there was no cause for alarm. Following postal notification, Vera dutifully brought Alan along for his second vaccination. "After that, the vomiting and spasms became more severe."
Alan had a developmental check-up after the second injection and the paediatrician agreed something was wrong, but couldn't say what. "He was clearly unwell. But if only healthy children are supposed to be vaccinated, why wasn't I told by the doctor not to bring him for the third injection?" Vera says.
With some reluctance, Vera took Alan for his last vaccination at just under one year old. After that, it was clear he had a serious medical problem. "After three vaccines he died but he was still with us."
At first, doctors thought he was deaf but a range of tests proved inconclusive. "So we took him outside one day. My husband, Kevin, sat him on a chair and watched him as I smashed a bottle against the wall behind him. The child nearly screamed the place down with the fright. So he wasn't deaf."
It was 1974 and doctors couldn't tell Vera and Kevin what was wrong with their son but questions were beginning to form in their own minds. Vera telephoned a medical officer at the Department of Health to make a seemingly innocent inquiry. She told the official she had an infant child and was considering getting him vaccinated but had heard this could lead to brain damage. What should she do? "He answered 'that's perfectly correct. But the advantages so outweigh the risks you'd be foolish not to. The chances are one in a million.' I told him he was speaking to the mother of one in a million. That's when my battle with the health service began," Vera says.
"When a child is small, the damage doesn't look that insurmountable. But as he grew up, we saw how terrible Alan's condition was. He couldn't move his own head or limbs. He died like a skeleton, wasted away," says Vera. "There was absolutely nothing past his eyes. He never knew us, he never spoke."
Alan contracted pneumonia in 1995 and died 10 days later in the Mater Hospital.
"When admitted to the Mater Hospital with pneumonia, Kevin overheard some of the medical staff discussing his son. 'That's the worse case of vaccine damage I've ever seen,' one said to another.
The family's battle, over 20 years later, is still ongoing. Last week, a fresh inquest into Alan Duffy's death was directed by Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell.
An initial inquest into his death was opened when a doctor involved in his care refused to sign his death certificate citing pneumonia as the cause of death. The inquest was adjourned in 1999 to allow a judicial review to take place.
Coroner Farrell had decided to investigate any indirect role the vaccine may have played in his death, but the Northern Area Health Board challenged the move in the High Court in 1999. The High Court ruled that any link between his death and the vaccine was too indistinct to make it appropriate for investigation by a coroner. The Supreme Court then rejected an appeal by the coroner against the decision.
A fresh inquest will now go ahead in the coming months because an attempt to re-call the original jury was unsuccessful and the inquest must be concluded.
On the face of it, it's a victory for the family. But in reality, the coroner's investigation has been greatly restricted. As well as no mention of the three-in-one vaccine at the inquest, the Supreme Court ruled that the coroner could not call an independent expert. The Duffy family is considering appealing this Supreme Court decision because an amendment to the Coroner's Act in 2005 has allowed for more than two medical witnesses to give evidence.
"We have expert doctors in vaccine damage willing to give evidence but the Supreme Court won't let the coroner call them. So, yes, we will appeal," Vera says.
In the mid-1970s, Vera set up the Irish Association for Vaccine Damaged Children.
"The letters poured in from all over the country. All with similar descriptions of children with eyes rolling, convulsions and vomiting." A high profile campaign followed calling on the Government to investigate the possibility of vaccine-damaged children. "An inquiry of sorts was set up. Some families got compensation but a waiver was involved, so we never brought Alan's case there," she says.
Although he died more than a decade ago, Alan is still on the live register as his death certificate has yet to be issued. The Duffy family now want closure. "For decades I have fought against the brick wall of political and medical interests telling me to prove it was the vaccine. But why can't they prove to me - a woman who believes she lost her son because of it - that I am wrong?"
Vera says she won't stop asking questions until she gets some real answers. "After the coroner's court, who knows? I'm exhausted and exasperated but I've no plans to stop."
But it's taken its toll. Vera and Kevin lost a daughter to cancer many years ago and, more recently, Vera was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). "I was diagnosed five years ago. I put it down to the shock and tragedy of losing two children."
With the health service "a shambles", Vera believes united action from Irish citizens is the answer. "I'm sick to death of looking at mothers' heartbroken faces in the newspaper. Parents who have never got justice for their children. Children who have been shot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Children who have been kicked to death on the ground. Children who died like Alan. It's time we all banded together. I can recognise the look on those mothers' faces because I have it too."