The Director of the National Disease Surveillance Centre, Dr Darina O'Flanagan, has welcomed comments from a leading British doctor encouraging use of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
Dr Simon Murch was a member of the research team which warned of a possible link between MMR and autism.
But he now says there is no medical evidence of any autism risk from the triple jab, and he has warned of a major measles epidemic this winter if uptake of the injection does not increase.
According to the NDSC the uptake of the vaccine in Ireland is 18% below the World Health Organisation recommended level of 95%.
Dr O'Flanagan says Ireland has one of the highest rates of measles in Europe because of our MMR uptake figures.
The controversy over the reported link between the MMR vaccine and autism has led to a low uptake in Ireland in recent years.
