Vaccines should be a right, not a privilege

If you think our Australian infants are protected against lethal strains of meningococcal, it’s time to think again, writes Miranda Devine.

Eliza Ault-Connell lost both legs to the lethal B-strain of meningococcal disease when she was 16 and spent 110 days in intensive care.

That was in 1997, almost 20 years before a vaccine had been developed for the bacterial infection that is so difficult to diagnose.

Yet when she had the first of her three children in 2008, even she didn’t realise that the meningococcal vaccine her baby received did not protect against the most common B-strain which had almost killed her.

She is worried that other parents today may be unaware that their children are not protected at a time when doctors are warning of an unexplained surge of cases of the rare but catastrophic B-strain in babies aged under one in NSW.

Eliza Ault-Connell ois now a Commonwealth Games silver medalist. Picture: Matt Roberts/Getty

The number of cases almost doubled from 2015 to 2017, with 43 patients diagnosed. Last year there were 32 cases and this year so far there have been six.

While federal government immunisation guidelines say all babies should be immunised against the B-strain, the problem is that, unlike with other strains of the disease, the vaccine is not subsidised. With two shots needed in the first year and one in the second, at up to $150 each, the cost can be prohibitive.

“It’s an expensive vaccine,” says Ault-Connell, “but we can’t have a situation where some people can afford it and some can’t”.

Currently, the meningococcal vaccination does not cover all strains. Picture: Justin Kennedy

Prof Robert Booy, Head of Clinical Research at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, has been urging GPs to vaccinate all the babies they see, but he, too, is concerned that some parents are deterred by the expense.

The NSW government currently pays for the vaccine for the less common strains A, C, W and Y.

“I applaud what the government has already done,” says Prof Booy, who has been involved in the care of 100 children suffering the “horrible” illness.

“But if only we funded at the state level we could get on top of this disease”.

Surely a government awash with cash to waste on light rail projects nobody wants can afford to prevent a disease which is far more costly in the long run.

@mirandadevine