A public consultation on proposed changes to the BCG vaccination programme in Ireland is underway.

If the proposed changes go ahead, we would switch to selective vaccination for high-risk babies as opposed to the current system of vaccinating all newborns.

Ireland is currently one of only two Western European countries with a policy of universal vaccination against TB.

Currently, around 61,000 babies are vaccinated against the disease each year but the proposed changes would see this number drop to 8,000.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) says it will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the proposed changes as well as the clinical, organisational and ethical issues.

The plans have been set out by the national immunisation and national TB advisory committees. The public consultation lasts until October 21st.

HIQA’s Director of Health Technology Assessments, Dr Máirín Ryan, says the risk of acquiring TB has fallen but that high risk groups do remain.

She said: "The two groups who make up the high risk population would be infants born to parents who come from countries where there's a high incidence of TB - effectively we're talking about most of the developing world. And theo ther group then would be traveller children."