A life-saving meningococcal vaccine covering all five common strains of the deadly disease could soon be available thanks to vital research demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of a combination Men ABCWY vaccine.
Conducted by the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, based at The Kids Research Institute Australia, alongside national and international collaborators, the global research published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases and Clinical Infectious Diseases found the combination vaccine to be highly effective in providing universal protection for young adults and teenagers.
A rare but very serious disease, meningococcal can result in death if not recognised and treated quickly, and children who survive are often left with life-changing health complications such as brain injuries, deafness, severe scarring or amputated limbs.
Professor Peter Richmond – Head of the Vaccine Trials Group at the Wesfarmers Centre, Head of Paediatrics at The University of Western Australia’s Medical School and a paediatrician at Perth Children’s Hospital – said the introduction of the Men ACWY vaccine to the National Immunisation Program (NIP) in 2018 saw a significant reduction in cases caused by the W and Y strains, and the B variant had become the most common cause of meningococcal in Australia.
“There is no single vaccine available that covers the five common strains – A, B, C, W and Y – and while meningococcal B vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective in children and young adults, the low incidence of the disease means it hasn’t been considered cost-effective for inclusion on the NIP,” Professor Richmond said.
“Parents wanting full protection against all five strains of disease must purchase a separate Men B vaccine privately at a significant cost of at least $100 per dose, with each child needing two or three doses depending on age of vaccination – something that may be out of reach for many families.
“Our aim was to show that a combination ‘pentavalent’ vaccine containing the A, B, C, W and Y strains of meningococcal in one injection was safe and would provide the equivalent levels of immunity as the meningococcal B and Men ACWY vaccines given separately when tested against over 100 variants of the disease.
“Thanks to the success of this research, the combination vaccine was recently approved by the FDA for use in the US for older children and young adults aged 10 through to 25 years, and we hope to see it licensed in Australia in the near future.
“Ideally, we would like to see this vaccine replace the current Men ACWY vaccine given to all teenagers in Year 10 at high schools throughout Australia, and our research going forward will focus on studies demonstrating its safety and efficacy for babies and toddlers in the hopes of future inclusion on the NIP from 12 months of age.
“This would be the best way to eradicate meningococcal disease in children and give parents the peace of mind that their child has the highest possible protection against this devastating disease – an outcome we are certainly looking forward to achieving in coming years,” Professor Richmond said.