Baby dies just weeks from being vaccinated

An 8-month-old baby boy has died from meningococcal disease just two weeks before he was scheduled to be vaccinated.

It is not yet known whether the Manawatu boy was killed by the epidemic strain of the disease, but he had been booked for his first dose of meningococcal B vaccine on April 30.

Doctors in the Mid Central area started vaccinating the under 5s from Monday.

The boy, who was teething but appeared "happy and well" on Friday, was admitted to Palmerston North Hospital on Saturday in a serious condition and was airlifted to Starship children's hospital the same day. He died on Sunday.

Dr Jane O'Hallahan, the vaccine programme leader for the Ministry of Health, said "inevitably and unfortunately" some cases would occur before the vaccine was rolled out around the country, but she said the $200 million campaign was going as "fast as it can".

Palmerston North senior health protection officer Peter Wood said the baby boy had attended his regular child care centre on Friday and was described as appearing "happy and well".

He had a slight fever which was not unusual for a teething eight-month-old. By Saturday he had been admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit.

"When I saw him at 9am on Saturday he was covered in red blotches and he was unconscious."

Mr Wood said 18 people, including family and other children at the child care centre, had received preventative antibiotics.

Paediatrician Jeff Brown said the boy's death showed how quickly children could become desperately ill with meningococcal disease.

The Government's vaccination programme was launched in Counties Manukau and parts of East Auckland - the areas deemed to be the highest risk - last July. Since then it has been rolled out to district health board areas as far south as Palmerston North.

All district health boards in the North Island will have started the programme by mid-May. Vaccinations will begin in parts of the South Island from June 6 and the last areas to vaccinate will start in the week beginning July 4.

Dr O'Hallahan, the ministry's meningococcal B vaccine immunisation programme director, said the programme had been staggered for a range of reasons, including the logistics of immunising 1.1 million people under 20 and the availability of the vaccine.

"There's limited availability of vaccine therefore the need to stagger the roll out and prioritise those at highest risk. That's why we started in the North," she said.

Dr O'Hallahan said it was also important to ensure the National Immunisation Register, which will record every immunisation and provide coverage data, was in place.

There had been some "teething problems" with the system, which meant some data had not been recorded correctly.

She said there was no possibility of speeding the programme up. Many GPs were running extended hours or opening Saturdays to enable vaccinations to be completed.

Since the epidemic began in 1991, 5700 people have contracted meningococcal disease and 228 people have died from it.

The highest annual total recorded was in 2001 when the total number of cases of meningococcal disease was 650, including 26 deaths. Last year 342 people contracted the disease and eight people died.

So far this year four people have died from meningococcal disease and 61 have contracted it.

* A 16-year-old Westport girl, this year's first West Coast meningitis victim, is in a stable condition in Christchurch Hospital after being struck down with meningitis during the weekend.

Making progress

Percentages of under 5s who have received their third dose of meningococcal vaccine:

Nationally - 22
Counties Manukau (and Eastern corridor) - 64
Waitemata - 47
Auckland- 48

Note
Meaningful comparisons between other areas are difficult because many have not yet started, or are only partly through their programmes.

- additional reporting NZPA