Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, there has been a meningococcal outbreak in Tasmania, with six cases, one fatal. These infections are preventable. But currently the Commonwealth limits funding for the ACWY vaccine and doesn't fund the B vaccine at all. Prime Minister, will you fix this and fully fund both vaccines so that everyone, not just the wealthy, can be protected against this horrid disease? Please, Prime Minister, will you meet personally with Erica Burleigh, who was left legally blind by meningococcal B and who is in the gallery today? She and her friend Casey Johnston are the driving force behind a campaign for the B vaccine to be put on the National Immunisation Program Schedule.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question, and I look forward to meeting with Erica and Casey, if they have time to do so, after question time. I want to assure the honourable member that the government makes decisions on vaccines based on the advice of the independent experts. We don't play politics with this issue, and I'm not suggesting the honourable member is. But it's very important that we do so with the right science. I think he would understand that.

When the independent experts recommended that we add meningococcal ACWY vaccines to the National Immunisation Program for infants up to 12 months of age, we did. When it comes to vaccines for adolescents for meningococcal ACWY—this is the quadrivalent vaccine—we're taking action. We're working with vaccine manufacturers towards a vaccine program that would apply for adolescents. Now, since April, we've been negotiating with a sponsor to make this vaccine broadly available in accordance with the recommendations of the experts. It's a very important step to make sure that vaccines meet the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee's, rightly strict cost-effectiveness criteria. The advisory committee also considered another brand for meningococcal ACWY last month, and we await the outcome on that.

To date, the advisory committee has not recommended the meningococcal B vaccine on the National Immunisation Program. Under section 101 of the National Health Act, the government is not able to include a new medicine on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme or a vaccine on the National Immunisation Program unless it has first been recommended by the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. They are legal requirements, which enshrine the primacy of an expert medical recommendation.

However, I remind the honourable member that, unlike the Labor Party, the government can guarantee that, if the medical experts on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee recommend meningococcal B vaccine, we'll list it on the National Immunisation Program. If the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee recommends it, we will list it. We won't defer it, as happened under the Labor government. So we're urging the sponsor company to resubmit their application at the earliest opportunity, with more evidence on the vaccine's effectiveness.

All governments, Commonwealth and state, have responsibility for national immunisation coverage. States rightly play a critical role in ensuring state based vaccination programs are in place to help protect the wider community from the spread of disease. Across the country, states are administering the ACWY vaccine programs for at-risk cohorts, from school based programs for adolescents to the free vaccination clinics set up in Tasmania this month. I can assure the honourable member that we—and I know all honourable members will understand the importance of this—all will remain vigilant and proactive in our joint efforts to combat the spread of these preventable diseases and keep our community safe.