NT Health Director of Immunisation Policy and Strategy, Heather Parker says more than 15,000 young Territorians have now taken up the offer of free meningococcal B vaccines, adding that there has been a recent case in Central Australia which was quickly detected by a school nurse

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, more than fifteen thousand young Territorians have now taken
advantage of the free manager coggle B vaccines. The program
aims to protect kids from a potentially deadly disease and
safes families up to one hundred and eighty dollars per vaccine.
Now joining us on the line to tell us more
is NT Health Director of Immunization Policy and Strategy, Heather Parker.

(00:23):
Good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Heather, Good morning, Katie. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, thanks so much for your time this morning. Now, Heather,
tell me how many babies have now had the vaccine
and then I guess adolescence.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, so at the moment, we're looking at over nine
thousand children between the ages of six weeks and two
years and nearly six thousand adolescents between fourteen and nineteen.
And I will say that I think that number is
a little bit higher than that. I don't have the
up to date two dates numbers, but yeah, we're looking excellent,
nearly around sixteen thousand altogether.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Is that a good take up in your opinion? No,
you sort of please with those numbers.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Very please. And actually we did have a cat to
the company who's actually assigning the vaccine recently who commented
on what an excellent job the territory has done. So
very pleased with how it's going. Obviously, we want to
see a lot more kids and adolescents taking advantage of this,
particularly for the catch up which does end. The catch
up program does end at the end of twenty twenty six,

(01:25):
so we've got a little bit of a window here
to try and get as many kids vaccinated as we can.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Heather, has it been rolling out through the schools in
terms of the kids that are a bit older, like
for the catch up or how has it been working?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, absolutely so, it certainly has been rolled out within
the schools. So as a part of our school based
immunization program the Centers for Disease Control who I work with,
we've been collaborating with the wonderful primary healthcare team at
NTEA Health and just making sure that we run this
out to roll without to all the adolescents, so it
automatically goes to all the year nine students that'll be ongoing,

(02:01):
but we've also been running a blitz program for the
years ten to twelve students to make sure we're capturing
that catch up cohort of their fifteen to nineteen year
olds as well.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Now, for those out there listening who may not sort
of know how serious meninginger cockle bee can be, for
those who aren't vaccinated, I mean, talk us through its.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, so look, meninchacoppab it is a it's a rare disease,
but it is a very severe disease. And Meninja copple
bee is the most common strain in Australia. So we
also have Ninja copple ac and w and y, but
menintoppole bee is our most common. And so while a
lot of the population does carry this bacteria, this meninjucopcal bacteria,

(02:46):
when it does invade the system, it does become very
severe and very quick very severe, very quickly, and so
it's spread by sneezing, coughing, or kissing, and is Once
that disease takes hold, it can be very serious and
can indeed, it can lead to blood infections, loss of limbs,

(03:07):
and even death. So incredibly severe disease.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yeah. Well, I mean what are the signs and symptoms
for people to look out for as well?

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Okay, so some of the signs and symptoms are fever, headache,
of confusion, and drowsiness, next stiffness, joint pains and a
rash that's really important, that rash, a dislike of bright
lights and vomiting.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Have we had any recent cases and you know, like,
how are we going across the territory at the moment.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
There was actually a recent case in an adolescent in
Central Australia. Now luckily enough that the school nurse picked
up a note very quickly. He was taken to ed
very quickly and treated and that patient did recover and
it didn't advance that stage. But it just honestly does
demonstrate the importance of this vaccine and making sure we

(04:00):
make it available for all of our kids and teenagers.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, and it is something I know I've spoken about
on the show at different times. We've spoken to the
Lawrence family after they lost their little girl, Skyler a
number of years ago, and you know, it's an unimaginable
loss that that family has gone through. But now to
see this immunization program being rolled out more widely across

(04:24):
the Northern Territory, it's a real tribute to the to
the raising of awareness that they've done.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Absolutely and just goes to show you know, this is
real people and real families that this impacts, and the
bravery that Sallie and Ash have shown in sharing this
story and continuing to share their story as they did
on Skyla's Day on October fifteenth, this week, this is
what's led to this program. So it's really this is
on them, this program, and this program absolutely will save lives.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, so true. Now, if where can families go to
get their kids vaccinated? If they're listening this morning and
they're like, oh, ok, have somehow missed out on the
catch up program through school or maybe they don't fall
into those age groups that we'd sort of discussed.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, sure. So it is available from GPS and participating
pharmacies and also the community health centers and so folks
that are living in remote areas, the remote health services
as well.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Well. It's lovely to speak to you this morning, Heather.
I really appreciate your time. Thanks so much for having
a chat with us.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Not a problem at all, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Thank you,