Fine at breakfast, in ICU at lunch: Free vaccines urged to tackle deadly disease

Victoria’s Health Department is seeking advice on funding a meningococcal B vaccine as a new analysis shows that more than 1000 Australians have caught the deadly disease in the past decade.

Melbourne father Paul Wright has been lobbying the state government to fund free meningococcal B vaccines after his teenage son Lachy was struck down with the disease in December and almost died. “In the space of an hour he went from being able to hold a conversation to being non-responsive,” Wright said.

Paul Wright says his son Lachy is lucky to be alive after he contracted meningococcal B last year and wound up in intensive care.Credit: Eddie Jim

Last week, the Frankston South resident received a letter from Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas saying the Health Department would “seek expert public health advice on the use and funding of meningococcal B vaccine in Victoria”.

Thomas wrote that while the incidence of meningococcal B remained stable in Victoria, the department was monitoring the risk the disease posed.

While children are vaccinated free against meningococcal strains A, C, W and Y under the federally funded National Immunisation Program, strain B is an optional vaccination that costs families up to $360 per child.

Rising case numbers prompted South Australia to implement a state-funded meningococcal B vaccination program in 2019. This year, Queensland started rolling out free meningococcal B vaccines to those aged between six weeks and 19 years.

Children require three doses if they are under the age of one, and two doses if older.

An analysis of Australian Meningococcal Surveillance Program data by the Meningitis Centre Australia reveals 1134 Australians contracted meningococcal B between 2012 and 2022.

The centre’s executive officer, Karen Quick, who is also lobbying for a vaccine program, said this was surprisingly high given that case numbers had dropped off considerably during the pandemic.

She says about 100 of these people would have died, and a further 250 to 300 would have been left with a permanent disability. Her organisation provides support to people who have had amputations, kidney transplants, suffered psychological trauma and lost loved ones.

“You can die within 24 hours of catching the disease,” she said. “You can be fine at breakfast time and then in ICU by lunchtime.”

Preliminary figures show there were 112 meningococcal B cases in Australia last year, up 10 per cent from the previous year. Twenty of the cases were in Victoria and 29 in NSW.

“Meningococcal B cases are rising,” Quick said. “They [authorities] have to do something right now.”

Lachy Wright was taken to Frankston Hospital by ambulance on the morning of December 14. Two days earlier, the 18-year-old had complained of a sore throat. His symptoms progressed to severe headaches, body aches and vomiting.

Lachy’s antibiotic treatment started in the back of the ambulance after a paramedic noticed a handful of small red spots on his knees and wrists. They did not blanch when pressed: a telltale signs of meningococcal. When he arrived at hospital, he was taken to ICU, intubated and placed in an induced coma for four days. Doctors gave him a 5 per cent chance of survival.

Lachy Wright spent four days in an induced coma after catching meningococcal B last year.

Paul Wright had assumed his son did not need any additional vaccines other than those funded through the National Immunisation Program.

It has taken Lachy two months to regain some of his previous strength and return to light exercise. He’s decided to defer his university studies to ensure he makes a full recovery.

“I want to use my experience to bring about change,” he said.

Meningococcal bacteria spread through close, prolonged contact between people. Children aged under two, adolescents and young adults between 15 and 24, smokers, and people with respiratory tract infections are at increased risk. In its aggressive form, it can spread to the brain.

Symptoms include headaches, fever, chills, neck stiffness, sensitivity to light, vomiting, muscle pain, reduced consciousness and red and purple spots on the skin or bruises.

In June a one-year-old and a person in their 90s died from the disease in Victoria, prompting an alert from then chief health officer Brett Sutton.

Not-for-profit advocacy group the Immunisation Coalition has also been calling on all Australian states to follow South Australia and Queensland’s lead and make the meningococcal B vaccination freely available to children and adolescents.

The group’s chair, Dr Rodney Pearce, said meningitis was a doctor’s worst nightmare because it was difficult to differentiate from common respiratory infections during its early stages.

“It goes from looking like a viral infection to lethal,” he said. “The only tool in the toolkit is vaccination because the disease is so unpredictable and there’s no guarantee treatment will work.”

As well as stopping people from contracting meningococcal B, vaccination reduced the severity of the disease, Pearce said.

A Victorian Health Department spokesman said it was closely monitoring meningococcal cases in the state and was guided by the National Immunisation Program when it came to vaccine eligibility.

First Nations children and people at increased risk due to certain medical conditions are eligible for a free meningococcal B vaccination under the National Immunisation Program.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has not recommended its inclusion on the program for all infants and adolescents, estimating it would cost $400 million a year to prevent about 224 cases.

A spokeswoman said the federal Health Department was monitoring epidemiological data.

“These activities will inform any decision if there is emerging evidence to prompt further discussions regarding expansion of eligibility criteria,” she said.

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