| Vaccine plan meets with bad reaction A mass vaccination program against the deadly meningococcal disease was irresponsible, a pro-choice vaccination lobbyist said. The federal government approved the $41 million scheme on Monday and it is set to begin early next year. Federal Health Minister Kay Patterson said high-risk babies and teenagers would be targeted by the program, which will vaccinate against the meningococcal C strain. There is no vaccine available for meningococcal B. Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) president Meryl Dorey said the vaccine had never been tested for effectiveness.
AVN is a lobby group dedicated to ensuring parents have the right to choose whether or not to vaccinate their children.
Ms Dorey said the vaccine is now the subject of an inquiry in the UK. "When it was introduced in the United Kingdom they had so many adverse reactions reported that they've actually had a government inquiry into this," she told Channel Seven's Sunrise program. "To introduce this vaccine while there is an inquiry ongoing overseas, while there have been this huge number of reactions reported is irresponsible and does not mean that the government is performing its duty of care." So far this year, more than 20 Australians have died from the killer bug.
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