PBAC weighs up expansion of meningococcal B vaccine

A proposal to broaden the availability of the meningococcal B vaccine, sold as Bexsero, under the National Immunisation Program (NIP) is under consideration.
 
At its March meeting, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) reviewed an application by manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline to broaden the availability of its vaccine.
 
Currently Bexsero is funded on the NIP for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children under the age of two, as well as people at increased risk of invasive meningococcal disease.
 
The college has advocated strongly for expanding the availability of the vaccine, and RACGP Vice President and WA Chair Dr Ramya Raman said she would welcome increasing its reach on the NIP.
 
‘The expansion of the current NIP listing of the meningococcal B vaccine for the broader infant and adolescent population would be a fantastic step forward,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘This is a moment for the PBAC to lead.
 
‘Meningococcal disease is rare, but when it strikes, it can be so devastating, and prevention is exactly what the NIP is for.’
 
‘As a practising GP, I would really be calling on this for our patients in our community.’
 
The move by the PBAC was also highlighted by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).
 
At its February meeting, ATAGI heard a presentation about the effectiveness of Bexsero against meningococcal B disease as well as its cross-protection against gonococcal infection.
 
While it noted declines in laboratory-confirmed disease and serogroup B notification rates in the past two decades, ATAGI also said there is ‘a disproportionate burden of disease’ among children below the age of two, those aged 15–19 years, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents.
 
The PBAC’s meeting follows Dr Raman’s calls earlier this year to make the meningococcal B vaccine free for at-risk West Australians – calls echoed in New South Wales.
 
She urged the State Government to follow administrations in South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory by making vaccinations free for babies and teenagers, saying the costs put it out of reach for some parents.
 
‘Western Australia is leading in many other spaces, including RSV, the free flu program, having the free RSV program in aged care settings, but I feel there is an opportunity here for WA to seize and it hasn’t seized it yet,’ Dr Raman said.
 
Bexsero has been funded for immunising infants under the UK’s NHS program since 2015, where there has been a 75% reduction in meningococcal disease among vaccinated groups.
 
Vaccination against meningococcal disease A, C, W and Y is already provided under the NIP.
 
The recommendations made at the March PBAC meeting are yet to be published.
 
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