Meningococcal Vaccine to be apart of National Immunisation Program

To help protect our youngest Australians from the devastating consequences of meningococcal, a quad-strain vaccine will be added to the National Immunisation Program (NIP).

The new vaccine (Nimenrix) covers against A, C, W and Y strains (MenACWY) and will be added to the NIP ahead of the next peak meningococcal season which, based on previous years, is expected to be in the second half of the year. Meningococcal is a rare but very serious infection that occurs when meningococcal bacteria from the throat or nose ‘invades’ the body.

The consequences are devastating for individuals and for their families. Currently, infants aged 12 months are given a single-strain Meningococcal C vaccine.

To get the facts about immunisation visit immunisationfacts.gov.au