Governments refuse to fund meningococcal B vaccine
Federal and state governments are refusing to fund the meningococcal B vaccine while the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee rules it would only “save nine lives” and was not worth the $400 million cost.
Federal and state governments are refusing to fund a lifesaving vaccine for meningococcal B despite the death of toddler Donald Peach.
Federal Health minister Greg Hunt and his NSW counterpart Brad Hazzard said yesterday uncertainty about the B-strain vaccine Bexsero’s effectiveness has prevented it from being added to the National Immunisation Program.
The B strain has caused the most cases of the infection among babies, children and teenagers in NSW.
The Sunday Telegraph’s No Jab No Play campaign is calling on the federal government to follow the lead of Britain and Ireland by including the vaccine on the national schedule. Making the vaccine free in Britain halved the incidence of meningococcal B, according to experts.
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Mr Hunt said the vaccine would not receive federal funding until it was approved by the federal Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.
PBAC knocked back Bexsero for the third time in 2015, claiming there was not enough evidence that it would create herd immunity.
“By law, the government cannot list a vaccine on the NIP unless it has been recommended by the PBAC,” Mr Hunt said.
“To date, the independent medical experts on the PBAC have not made a positive recommendation to include the meningococcal B vaccine because of uncertainty about its effectiveness in a population-wide program.”
He said pharmaceutical company GSK had provided a new submission for consideration at its November meeting.
South Australia has refused to wait for the federal government, becoming the only state to fund a state-based vaccination program for the B strain.
Mr Hazzard rejected calls to do the same, claiming the rate of meningococcal B in South Australia was 50 per cent higher than in NSW.
“Meningococcal B cases in NSW have varied in recent years, with an average of 48 cases between 2009 and 2012,” he said. “Then, from 2013 to 2016, it dropped to 25 cases. Last year, it was 32 cases.”
Mr Hazzard said the state government was “hopeful” the vaccine would be ticked off in November and could be added to the national program.
“To date, however, the PBAC has considered there has been a limited demonstration of, and multiple uncertainties in relation to, the clinical effectiveness of the available vaccine. It was also unclear that it was cost effective,” he said.
For a family with two children, vaccinating can cost up to $900, which many families find prohibitive.
‘ONLY’ NINE LIVES COULD BE SAVED
The meningococcal B vaccine would only “save nine lives” and was not worth the $400 million cost to the public purse.
That was the hard economic decision made by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee in 2013 when it rejected Bexsero, the vaccine for meningococcal B.
For vaccines to go on the national immunisation schedule, drug companies must demonstrate the vaccine is worth the investment.
GSK, makers of the meningococcal B vaccine Bexsero, has had three submissions to the PBAC rejected since 2013.
In 2013, PBAC claimed GSK had not proven the clinical effectiveness of the vaccine: “Over 4 million children would be vaccinated, costing over $400 million, estimated to prevent 224 cases of invasive meningococcal disease, nine deaths and 93 patients with sequelae (the loss of limbs, kidney disorders, etc).”
The PBAC also had concerns on all three submissions that GSK had not shown the vaccine would create long-term protection.
In rejecting GSK’s third submission in 2015, the PBAC found vaccinating 200,000 children would cost more than $100 million and there was “an unacceptably high and uncertain incremental cost effectiveness ratio”.
A new application will be made by GSK in November, and this time the government has a $7.1 billion surplus.
A spokeswoman for GSK said the current PBAC valuation did not take into account long-term costs of not vaccinating, such as loss of income.
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