Summary
Date: 3 May 2018
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) sought feedback on proposed changes to the meningococcal vaccination recommendations. The proposed changes, which reflect the current best clinical practice to prevent invasive meningococcal disease, will be published in The Australian Immunisation Handbook. There are four key changes, including:
- revoking all recommendations in The Australian Immunisation Handbook, with the exception of those relating to meningococcal B and meningococcal ACWY vaccination for people at occupational risk or travellers
- changes related to dosage and target population
- revoking fourth dose of vaccine for protection against Haemophilus influenzae type B currently given at 12 months
- offering all children a fourth dose of vaccine for protection against Haemophilus influenzae type B at 18 months of age.
The RACGP provided comments, indicating it is supportive of the proposed changes given the trends and variations in the epidemiology of meningococcal disease.