Mother of pneumococcal-disease child wants vaccine extended

Nicole Edgerton

A mother whose five-week old-daughter died of pneumococcal disease is taking her plea for wider availability of a vaccine to Parliament.

Nicole Edgerton and supporters plan to deliver a letter to Associate Minister of Health Peter Dunne on Wednesday asking him to put the pneumococcal vaccine Prevenar on the 2008 national immunisation schedule.

A decision about the schedule is due in the next couple of weeks.

Pneumococcal infections are a leading cause of meningitis, bacteraemia, pneumonia and middle-ear infections.

"While we're delighted that the pneumococcal vaccine Prevenar is now available for children under two years, we're reiterating our call for the Government to make it available to all relevant children, not just those who are considered 'at risk' or whose parents can afford it," general manager of the Meningitis Trust, Fiona Colbert, says.

Nicole and Dean Edgerton went in search of answers and a vaccine for their other child after their daughter Presley died.

Every year, up to 500 New Zealanders are diagnosed with severe pneumococcal disease and 150 are infants.

The rally at Parliament will ask that the vaccine be made available to every New Zealand child. The group will have 150 baby dolls, symbolic of the infants affected by pneumococcal disease in New Zealand annually.

- NZPA