VACCINE RATES TOO LOW
Not all teens take up meningococcal vaccines, says health chief
TASMANIA’S director of Public Health is dismayed at poor meningococcal immunisation rates among the state’s teenagers.
Mark Veitch said despite wide publicity for the free vaccine, which covers the ACWY strains of the deadly disease, only about two thirds of teenagers had taken up the offer before last week.
“Somewhere between 50 and 60 per cent got it from their school, probably another 5 per cent or so got it from their general practitioner,” he said.
Dr Veitch also revealed that the W strain had killed a teenage schoolgirl this month and a 20-year-old man had received treatment after contracting the B strain.
That’s actually a bit disappointing, we would hope that close to all teenagers would have got their vaccine
We know that in the last week... a number of other teenagers have gone out to get that vaccine
— MARK VEITCH
TASMANIA’S public health director says he’s disappointed more teenagers haven’t been immunised against meningococcal ACWY given the State Government picks up the bill.
Following a spike in meningococcal W cases last year, the Tasmanian Government continues to fund free ACWY vaccines for people born between August 1, 1997 and April 30, 2003.
Teenagers and young adults are more likely to catch the acute bacterial infection because they share regular close contact with one another.
Director of Public Health Mark Veitch said despite widely publicising the free vaccine, only about two thirds of teenagers had taken up the offer before last week.
“Somewhere between 50 and 60 per cent got it from their school, probably another 5 per cent or so got it from their general practitioner,” Dr Veitch said.
“That’s actually a bit disappointing, we would hope that close to all teenagers would have got their vaccine.
“We know that in the last week … a number of other teenagers have gone out to get that vaccine.”
The results for children aged five were far more positive, with 95 per cent of all kids vaccinated against meningococcal C, Dr Veitch said.
The Federal Government this year replaced the previous meningococcal C injection with the meningococcal ACWY vaccine at 12 months through the national immunisation program.
The vaccine against meningococcal B strain is available at pharmacies, but costs up to $300 per child as it is not yet listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
It is understood that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has not yet been satisfied with the evidence surrounding the effectiveness of meningococcal B vaccine Bexsero as part of a population-wide program.
“Normally with medicines we get as much evidence as we can about how well the vaccine works and whether it’s safe. With meningococcal B there is substantial evidence but there are still some gaps,” Dr Veitch said.
“If you’re talking about providing the vaccine to an entire population of people, you need to know in a bit more detail what the benefits are.
“If you look at the rate in the Tasmanian population of meningococcal B, it’s actually the same as the Australian rate. If we saw meningococcal B disease rise up in numbers, then of course that would make us reconsider whether we needed to have a state intervention to tackle it.”
The state’s peak welfare organisation has called on the State Government to subsidise meningococcal B prevention.
“We cannot allow cost to be the driver of inaction when we have the science and the resources to prevent the death or injury of our children and young people,” TasCOSS chief executive Kym Goodes said.
The strains of meningococcal disease that killed a Hobart teenager and hospitalised a young man were also revealed yesterday. Dr Veitch said the results, which were reported to public health services late last week, confirmed the two cases were not linked.
“The strain of meningococcal disease contracted by a 16year-old girl who died while undergoing medical treatment was meningococcal W,” he said. “The strain contracted by the 20 year-old man was meningococcal B.”
Since 2008, Tasmania has had 58 cases of meningococcal disease, three of which were deadly.
Typically there are fewer than three cases of meningococcal B disease and fewer than two cases of meningococcal W disease each year statewide.
Late last week, a threemonth-old boy was also diagnosed with meningococcal disease in the state’s third confirmed case this year but his strain has not yet been identified. The infant remains in the Royal Hobart Hospital in a stable condition.
Anyone who feels “severely and unusually” unwell should seek immediate medical advice.