Local woman Sarah Joyce has joined the front line to lobby the state government for better protection against the deadly meningococcal disease.
Joyce, a survivor of meningococcal who has just had her 70th operation since contracting the illness six years ago, has recently met with NSW MPs asking for Meningococcal B to urgently be placed on the NSW State Immunisation Plan.
She joined with Meningitis Centre Australia CEO Karen Quick and Stacey-Anne Chater, the mother of young Brayden who sadly passed away from Meningococcal B in November last year.
The three were in parliament last month to meet with policy advisors to push for Meningococcal B to be taken more seriously by the NSW Government.
The Meningococcal B strain is the most common cause of illness, disability and death of all strains in Australia, and is not currently funded under the National Immunisation Plan.
There have already been more than 70 cases this year, far exceeding the numbers at the same time in 2022.
South Australia and recently Queensland have made the decision to protect their children by placing Meningococcal B vaccination onto their state immunisation plan, but not NSW despite having 32 cases in 2022 and already 20 this year.
While the broad Meningococcal vaccine is on the national immunisation plan, the specific Meningococcal B vaccination is only available to Indigenous and immune-compromised children.
Parents of babies and adolescents have to pay for this themselves, costing up to $400 for the two doses and GP fees.
Karen Quick said if a baby or adolescent was lucky enough to survive Meningococcal B, it was likely they would develop permanent and sometimes devastating complications, and this affected the whole community.
Meningococcal disease can occur at any age. Infants and young children under two years of age, followed by adolescents between 15-24 years of age, are most at risk.
Source:
Meningitis Centre Australia