Vaccine campaign gets thumbs-up

The meningococcal B vaccination campaign in Counties Manukau has seen 130,000 children fully vaccinated and none of them has become ill with the strain the vaccine protects against.

Since the campaign began in July about 85 per cent of children in the school-based programme and 70 per cent of under-5s in the area have had their third dose of the MeNZB vaccine.

The Ministry of Health's director of the meningococcal B vaccine immunisation programme, Dr Jane O'Hallahan, said none of the children who received their third dose of vaccine had contracted the epidemic strain of the disease, but there had been a "few" cases of other strains.

"Parents need to understand the vaccine protects against 75 per cent of meningococcal cases and they need to still be vigilant as we head into winter."

An independent monitoring board's review of safety data for the first 32 weeks of the campaign has found no concerns over vaccine safety.

The board, which is made up of international experts in vaccines, paediatrics and epidemiology, reviewed data for more than 525,000 doses given to 210,573 children and young people in the Auckland region.

Between July and the end of February there had been 429 reports of adverse events following vaccination, including 165 reports of skin reactions, 152 of injection site reactions, 155 of fever and 74 reports of vomiting.

* British scientist Jeannette Adu-Bobie, who has contracted meningococcal disease, remains in a critical condition in Wellington Hospital's intensive care unit.

Ms Adu-Bobie had been studying the disease at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research in Porirua when she became sick.