Meningococcal B vaccine may be working already

The Meningococcal B vaccination programme may be showing early signs of success, particularly in Pacific Island children, say vaccination experts.

The number of confirmed cases fell roughly a third last year compared with the previous year, according to new Environmental Science and Research data.

The rate of meningococcal disease in Pacific Island under-1s dropped roughly two-thirds during that period, from about 500 to about 175 cases per 100,000 people.

The reduction follows the national immunisation programme which began last July in under-5s in Counties Manukau District Health Board and some eastern suburbs of Auckland DHB.

Dr Nikki Turner from the Immunisation Advisory Centre said the results were "an exciting early sign" that the vaccine may be starting to take effect. However, she stressed that more data and analysis was needed before definitive conclusions could be drawn.

"It's definitely an early sign only," she said. "The vaccination programme has only been going since the middle of last year."

However, she added that the large drop in meningococcal B cases among Pacific Island children under 12 months was exactly the result you would expect to see with vaccination.

She said the vaccine should have the greatest effect in groups most affected by the disease, such as Pacific Island under-1s, and that Pacific Island children had been targeted early in the campaign in Counties Manukau and had had good immunisation uptake.

To date, coverage in Pacific Island children aged six weeks to four years was 97 per cent for the first dose and 87 per cent for the second dose.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY