Apart from some exceptions, the vaccine is only available to those who can afford it on the private market. Photo: 123RF
By Pokere Paewai
Health workers and advocates are calling for the meningococcal B vaccine to be more widely available, with the disease a high risk for Pacific and Māori communities.
Pharmac has been consulting on whether to widen access to the vaccine, which would allow it to be included in the childhood immunisation schedule.
At present, outside of very high risk groups, the vaccine Bexsero is only available to those who can afford it on the private market.
Immunisation Advisory Centre medical director Nikki Turner said she strongly supported its introduction on the national immunisation programme, as the current model has led to some equity issues.
"The children who need it the most are not the children who are currently getting this vaccine," she said.
"This is children under five, particularly Māori and Pacific children, particularly children coming from crowded houses, from backgrounds of poverty. They cannot afford and they cannot access this vaccine."
Waitākere paediatrician and chair of the National Immunisation Taskforce Dr Owen Sinclair said he was thrilled with the prospect of the vaccine becoming more available.
Access remained a barrier for Māori, and that the six-month completed immunisation rate among Māori was very poor, Sinclair said.
Many whānau were unable to prioritise a trip to the GP, but if practitioners could bring services to them they could boost rates, he said.
"So our experience is if we can get a whānau, the child and an organisation that the whānau trust we can immunise everyone that we want.
"Māori actually do want to protect their children, their pēpi, there's no real issue with that. They don't necessarily trust the health system and so those are the barriers."
Turner said with a focused effort on reaching out to Māori and Pacific communities the equity gap could be closed.
Manukau family doctor and chair of the Pasifika GPs Network Dr Api Talemaitoga agreed, saying if Pharmac approved the vaccine it would only be the start of a drive to get Pasifika communities immunised.
The government already has the data to say which communities needed the vaccine and that messaging needed to be tailored to suit, he said.
"We know that when the messaging hits in a way that is understood, that is appreciated, that is couched in a way that this is about protecting you and your 'aiga, and your whānau that our rates are much better."
Talemaitoga said he did not want to see a repeat of the early 2000s outbreak of meningococcal B, where many mainly Pacific and Māori children were dying in South Auckland.