http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/20/1029114108852.html
Mass immunisation for meningococcal disease is likely to spur the introduction of an even costlier vaccine for the similarly lethal but more widespread pneumococcal disease.
Free vaccines for the C strain of meningococcal, the most deadly in Australia, will begin next year for babies at age one and for teenagers aged 15 to 17.
As soon as supplies of the scarce vaccine become available immunisation will be extended to all Australians aged up to 19, the Prime Minister, John Howard, said yesterday.
But the Government's expert advisory group is also believed to have supported the introduction of immunisation for pneumococcal disease, which is about 10 times more prevalent in children and the elderly and has a similar fatality rate.
An infectious diseases specialist, Peter Collignon, said it was