Meningococcal vaccine uptake disappoints

Fewer than half of all Maori children under 5 eligible for the meningococcal B vaccine have received their free immunisation.

Just 40 per cent of Maori children under 5 in South Auckland have had their first dose of the meningococcal B vaccine since it was made available last month.

Poverty and a lack of transport have been blamed for the slow response by Maori to an intensive media campaign aimed at making sure those most at-risk of developing the disease are immunised.

Health professionals discussed the vaccine and its benefits at the New Zealand Immunisation Conference in Rotorua last week.

It is hoped more than a million people aged between 6 months and 20 years will receive the vaccine, which is being introduced as part of a $200 million immunisation programme funded by the Ministry of Health.

The vaccine is aimed at controlling a meningococcal epidemic, which has been sweeping the country for the past 13 years.

Young people in South Auckland are the first to benefit from the vaccine, as figures show the Counties Manakau district records the worst rates of the disease.

Northland will be the next region to receive the vaccine, and young people in Rotorua and Taupo will be immunised from next February.

The director of the meningococcal vaccine strategy, Jane O'Hallahan, said Maori uptake of the vaccine in the Counties Manukau area was disappointing.

Despite support from schools and an intensive awareness campaign, transport and poverty were still preventing some families from getting the vaccine, she said.

Figures for Pacific Island children were much higher than their Maori counterparts. Three-quarters of Pacific Island children under 5 had received their first vaccine jab.

The aim was to cover 90 per cent of the target age groups, Dr O'Hallahan said.

About 80,000 infants and school-age children have been immunised as part of the vaccine strategy so far.

Young people must receive three doses of the vaccine, each six weeks apart, to be completely immunised.

- NZPA