Opinion: Meningococcal vaccines needed for all, not just the rich

It’s a silent killer that’s on the rise, but the prohibitive cost of vaccination has left Queenslanders at its mercy, writes Kylie Lang.

“Governments are trying to save money where they can, and you’ve now got an interesting situation where your health outcomes are directly linked to your financial ability to pay.”

I wouldn’t call it “interesting”, I’d call it “disgraceful”.

But Michael Clements is otherwise spot on.

The Townsville doctor, chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ rural council, is worried about Queenslanders being priced out of lifesaving vaccinations.

So should we all.

Last I checked, we weren’t living in the US, where decent healthcare is only for the rich.

When vaccines exist and are proven to work, then – as with immunisation against Covid-19 – they should be free, or at the very least means tested.

When The Courier-Mail revealed on Thursday that meningococcal B cases were up in Queensland – and likely to swell further – because people were unable to afford the vaccine, Dr Clements’ was one of many voices urging the state government to subsidise it.

Mater Health Services director of infectious diseases Paul Griffin said Queensland should remove the financial barrier to vaccination, as it would make a huge difference.

Phoebe O’Connell

Yes, but is anyone in power listening?

I have been writing about meningococcal since 2018, trying to raise awareness and get governments to step up.

Meanwhile, people are dying or sustaining permanent injury and disability from this insidious monster that presents with flu-like symptoms and can kill within hours.

Currently in Queensland, only infants aged 12 months and Year 10 students receive free immunisation against meningococcal A, C, W and Y through a federally funded vaccine.

Protecting yourself and your kids against the B strain costs upwards of $106 per person at your local GP, and that’s typically on top of the consultation fee. The ACWY jab is around $70 for anyone deemed ineligible to get it for nix. Vaccines don’t last forever; they need readministering so the cost is ongoing.

Two vital facts seem to elude our politicians – you can become a victim at any age, and you must be vaccinated against all five known strains to be safe.

But hey, let’s keep tinkering around the edges and fund partial vaccines for part of the population.

What a disgrace.

Dianne Leybourne

Brisbane woman Phoebe O’Connell was immunised against B and C but was struck down with Y at age 17.

Her parents were told she would die as her organs shut down and her extremities turned black from septicaemia.

Miraculously she survived, but she lost her spleen and kidneys and now, at 22, faces ongoing trauma.

Dianne Leybourne was 53. She didn’t even know what meningococcal was when she contracted B almost five years ago. She still has nightmares and wakes up screaming, with fear she is dying.

Bella Fidler was 23. She had the ACWY jab in Year 10 but the B strain killed her in April. Her devastated parents thought she was protected.

She wasn’t – and neither are any of us if we are not fully immunised and lack the means to pay. So why are governments dancing around this very real health crisis?

Queensland’s last two health ministers, Steven Miles and Yvette D’Ath, stuck their heads in the sand and said it was up to the feds to put B on the National Immunisation Program, as it had with ACWY.

Bella Fidler

Ah, but as South Australia has shown – by funding B – states can act independently.

It is high time Queensland did.

After my story this week – in which Phoebe O’Connell said it was “grossly unfair” people had to pay to be fully vaccinated and questioned why Queenslanders were still dying when prevention existed – the office of Shannon Fentiman made contact.

I was told Ms Fentiman would like to meet Phoebe and her mother Katy and asked if I could facilitate that.

Mrs O’Connell, a former intensive care nurse who has been campaigning for meningococcal awareness and vaccine funding since 2019, said, “Sure, if it will help.”

Cue cautious optimism.

Since her appointment as health minister in May, Ms Fentiman has been proactive, visible and accessible – in stark contrast with her predecessors (not hard, I hear you say).

Her apparent empathy and willingness to meet the people her government serves is welcome. But it is also what Queenslanders deserve – and it must deliver positive change.

Kylie Lang is associate editor of The Courier-Mail

LOVE

* Education Minister Grace Grace reversing a ridiculous decision by her department to not let kids compete in equestrian events for their school. Why the need to register as independents when private school students don’t have to? Parents are right to be annoyed.

LOATHE

* State laws to protect kids are not working as child sex predators go unchecked for years by an under-resourced police force, according to the CCC.

* Biffo by Blues’ Josh Addo-Carr and Jarome Luai and Maroons’ Reece Walsh marring a classy State of Origin game.