‘They’re doing something’
Abroken-hearted mum who lost her daughter to meningococcal disease says news of the Government’s immunisation plan against an outbreak is bittersweet.
An emergency vaccine programme to fight a new strain of the disease in Northland starts next week.
Six people have died from the strain Men W in the past year, three of them in Northland.
Alexis Albert died in July from the disease six days after she celebrated her seventh birthday.
Her mother, Rowshae Albert, told the Herald yesterday that the Government’s announcement was welcome news but gut-wrenching following Alexis’ death.
“I was actually quite hurt hearing that [the Government] are actually taking this seriously,” she said.
“It has been going in the back of my mind, why didn’t the Government
or the health officials announce this actually during the winter season where it started peaking?
“I can’t turn back time, I can only look at the positives and they’re actually doing something about it and now other families can do something about it.”
The vaccination programme starts on December 5 at selected high schools and community centres across Northland.
Health Minister David Clark said meningococcal disease was a terrible illness which had affected New Zealand in the past. “In the last few weeks, Pharmac and the Ministry of Health have sourced 20,000 doses of the vaccine which covers the meningococcal W-strain, as well as strains A, C and Y,” he said. “The advice from clinical experts is that Men W has reached outbreak levels in Northland and we should urgently launch an immunisation programme to prevent further spread of the disease.”
The vaccination will target people aged 9 months to 4 years (inclusive), and those aged between 13 and 19 years (inclusive).
Recipients will not have to pay for the vaccine, but to be eligible they will have to be a Northland resident.
The cost is commercially sensitive, but it costs $700,000 to roll out the vaccination programme.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said people as young as 11 months and as old as 61 years had died from MenW, but teenagers were the highest carriers of the disease, and under 5s were at the highest risk.
“The best way to protect all age groups is stop the carriage of the bacterium,” Bloomfield said.
“If we get advice that we need to roll it out further, we will be looking closely at that advice.”
He said people could not be compelled to be immunised but he hoped that 80 per cent of people in the target groups would be vaccinated, which would stop it being carried.
Northland was advised on November 6 about the possibility of an outbreak, and a technical advisory group reported two days later that there was, in fact, an outbreak.
Bloomfield defended the time it took to respond, saying it took time to secure 20,000 doses — because both Australia and the United States were already dealing with outbreaks — and to put in place the programme.
The location of the clinics will be confirmed as soon as possible, he said.
Despite the Government’s announcement, questions have been raised about why a response has taken so long.
A Northland District Health Board
Not everybody agrees with vaccines but in regards to this new strain out there, I feel like people need to think seriously and seek medical help. Rowshae Albert, grieving mother
microbiologist first warned the Northland DHB of the dangerous strain in May this year and the Ministry of Health received advice on November 8 there was an outbreak in the region.
However, Albert said she was pleased something was being done.
“I’m actually quite overwhelmed that families out there get to have that protection for their family,” she said.
“Not everybody agrees with vaccines but in regards to this new strain out there, I feel like people need to think seriously and seek medical help.
“The children up here are vulnerable and the disease is very real, I wholeheartedly feel parents need to consider the precautions and do what they feel is best for their child.”
While meningococcal B (MenB) has long been the dominant strain in New Zealand, causing two thirds of cases of the disease, there were growing concerns over the rise of MenW.
Medical experts say MenW can present differently to other strains, including severe respiratory tract infection such as pneumonia and, more so in adults, gastrointestinal symptoms.