Meningococcal Disease in New Zealand

Media Releases

11 April 2006
Budget 2006: Campaign to end meningococcal epidemic extended
The hugely successful Meningococcal B immunisation campaign will continue past 30 June as a result of $22 million in Budget 2006, Health Minister Pete Hodgson announced today.

12 January 2006
Extra protection for babies with 4th MeNZB dose
A 4th dose of the MeNZB vaccine is being introduced for all babies who received their 1st dose before they were six months old.

7 October 2005
MeNZB programme achieves major milestone for Māori
More than half a million doses of MeNZB vaccine have been given to tamariki Māori in the Meningococcal B Immunisation Programme.

27 September 2005
MeNZB vaccinations completed by more than 600,000 young people
More than 600,000 young New Zealanders have now completed their MeNZB vaccination and have received all three doses needed to help protect them against the country's meningococcal B epidemic.

12 July 2005
MeNZB vaccine now available to all Under 20s
All of New Zealand's 1.15 million children and young people aged under 20 can now access the MeNZB vaccine.

17 June 2005
Major milestones for Meningococcal B Immunisation Programme
The Meningococcal B Immunisation Programme is celebrating three major milestones this week with the first half million children vaccinated, the first one million doses given and all District Health Boards now vaccinating.

9 June 2005
The MeNZB vaccine will work
The Ministry of Health followed an internationally accepted process for licensing the MeNZB vaccine.

9 May 2005
Younger babies can now get MeNZB vaccine protection
All babies aged from six weeks are now eligible for the MeNZB vaccine to help protect them against meningococcal disease.

10 April 2005
Independent Safety Experts - further endorsement of Meningococcal vaccine
The safety of New Zealand's Meningococcal B vaccine (MeNZBTM) has been further endorsed by independent experts who found no safety concerns after looking at data relating to more than 525,000 doses being administered.

7 April 2005
MeNZBTM vaccination programme passes significant milestones
The Meningococcal B vaccine is now available to half of all under 20 year olds in New Zealand and nearly 160,000 young New Zealanders have completed the three dose vaccination programme.

7 July 2004
Meningococcal B vaccine approved
New Zealand’s largest mass immunisation programme of 1.15 million young people is expected to start in August following today’s approval to use the MeNZB™ vaccine, says Health Minister Annette King.

21 June 2004
Meningococcal vaccine use-by date not confirmed
News media reports of a deadline for using the first batch of vaccine in the proposed national programme to immunise against meningococcal B disease are premature.

Expiry dates for each batch of MeNZB™ vaccine in the proposed immunisation programme have not been confirmed. The expiry dates for each batch will not be determined before the vaccine is licensed for use in New Zealand.

11 May 2004
Timing update on Meningococcal Vaccine Strategy
The Ministry of Health today updated progress of the Meningococcal Vaccine Strategy project.

All aspects of the project continue to run smoothly, however the licensure process of the MeNZB™ vaccine is taking longer than the current expectations, said Meningococcal Vaccine Strategy Director Dr Jane O’Hallahan. Consequently, this affects the earliest date that the proposed group B meningococcal disease immunisation programme could begin.

10 March 2004
Meningococcal B vaccine Trial Results Continue to be Encouraging
Findings released today from the Meningococcal Vaccine Trials show further evidence that the vaccine is safe and vaccinated toddlers mount an immune response against New Zealand’s epidemic strain of meningococcal disease. These are encouraging results, according to principal investigator Professor Diana Lennon.

12 January 2004
Chiron scales up production of new meningococcal B vaccine for New Zealand - media release from Chiron Corporation
Chiron Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIR) today announced that it has successfully scaled up manufacturing for its new group B meningococcal disease vaccine for New Zealand, MeNZB™. Working in close collaboration with the New Zealand government, Chiron has developed the vaccine specifically to protect against the meningococcal B strain that has been responsible for a 13-year meningococcal disease epidemic in the country.