“Release the jabs and save children from a death like my baby Mabel”

As doctors grapple with the worst pneumococcal disease outbreak in 20 years, lifesaving vaccines remain tied up in red tape.

John and Carly Goya with a picture of baby Mabel. Picture: Josh Woning

Life-saving new-generation vaccines remain tied up in red tape as the country experiences the worst potentially deadly pneumococcal disease outbreak in 20 years, immunisation experts warn.

And one of the approved but still unavailable jabs could save children like Brisbane’s Mabel Goya, whose life was cut short at just six months when she contracted pneumococcal disease.

There have been 2243 cases of invasive pneumococcal disease – including meningitis, septicaemia, and pneumonia – recorded this year so far, with the number expected to surpass last year’s total by next week, marking the highest annual rate since 2002.

The trend is mirrored in Queensland, with a total of 781 cases in 2023-24.

As experts predict that higher-than-average case rates will persist into 2025, the Immunisation Foundation of Australia reports that new vaccines targeting more deadly strains of pneumococcal have been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and recommended by Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, remain unfunded through the National Immunisation Program.

The Immunisation Foundation of Australia is urging the Federal Government to fast-track these newer lifesaving vaccines.

In September 2021, Mabel’s family enjoyed a fun day but by the evening the tot began to vomit and showed signs of distress.

The following morning, she was taken to hospital, where she was treated for dehydration and monitored overnight.

Within days, Mabel was diagnosed with pneumococcal meningitis, which had caused severe damage to her brain. After a week in ICU her parents tragically were forced to turn off their child’s life support.

Queensland is following the national trend of soaring numbers of potentially deadly pneumococcal disease (including meningitis, septicaemia and pneumonia).

Mabel’s mother Carly Goya told The Courier-Mail that if the new vaccine had been available in 2021 it is highly likely her daughter would still be alive.

“It is crucial that new vaccines, specifically the new pneumococcal vaccine, are funded and added to the National Immunisation Plan,” she said.

“This vaccine provides protection against an additional seven strains of the deadly pneumococcus bacteria, and contains the strain which affected our daughter Mabel.

“Pneumococcal meningitis leads to incredibly devastating consequences and is very easy for medical professionals to misdiagnose.”

Queensland infectious disease expert Professor Paul Griffin told The Courier-Mail the data showed the desperate need for the new vaccines to be released.

“Evolving strains and declining immunisation rates are pushing up cases and there is a dire need for urgency,” he said.

Immunisation Foundation of Australia founder and director Catherine Hughes said the new-generation vaccines needed to be rolled out through the National Immunisation Program

without further delay.

“We simply can’t risk not having the best available pneumococcal protection,” she said.

Invasive pneumococcal disease is a leading cause of death and serious illness among children.

The infection can prove deadly within a matter of hours or days, with pneumococcal meningitis claiming the lives of one-in-twelve children with the disease.

While only cases of invasive pneumococcal disease are recorded in Australia, the broader

impact of pneumococcal is significant, with non-invasive infections leading to complications

such as permanent hearing loss in children.