Quote:
New Zealand launches mass vaccination program to combat meningitis outbreak
Canadian Press
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand will launch a mass immunization program next month, targeting 1.5 million young people in a bid to combat a meningitis B outbreak which has killed more than 200 people in the past 13 years.
Announcing the mass inoculation, Health Minister Annette King said Wednesday that at least 90 per cent of all people under the age of 20 will be vaccinated, starting in the high-risk poorer outer suburbs of Auckland, the nation's biggest city.
This program "shows that a small country can proactively respond to a serious public health issue caused by a terrible disease," King said in a statement.
In January 2002, King announced a 200 million New Zealand dollar ($173 Cdn) project to develop a specific vaccine to combat New Zealand's strain of the meningococcal meningitis B bacterium.
The disease has killed 220 New Zealanders and affected thousands of other young people since it began in 1991.
"The epidemic has shown no signs of abating, but now the vaccine has received approval we can begin to fight back," King said.
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So, are you pro-vaccination? Anti?
Why?
Myself, I think that if there is no other way to combat this, then by all means, 3 visits to the doctor is a necessary evil.