Press release
Ron Law
Risk & Policy Analyst
"The Minister of Health has released data that shows that only children vaccinated with MeNZB died from meningococcal
disease of any strain in 2006 and 2007," says Risk & Policy Analyst, Ron Law.
All deaths where the bacteria was able to be typed were due to the epidemic strain.
Not a single death occurred in fully unvaccinated children.
The Minister needs to come clean with the parents of New Zealand and explain why only children who were exposed to the
experimental MeNZB drug died in 2006 and 2007 and why the 200,000 children not exposed to the experimental drug appear
to have escaped fatal infection.
The Minister also needs to explain why the only meningococcal bacteria that caused death in under 20 year olds in 2006
and 2007 were the strain supposedly 'halted' by the MeNZB vaccine.
Can the Minister please explain why IMAC and the Ministry of Health are still misleading the public over the
effectiveness of MeNZB in young children when their own research revealed that babies were at INCREASED risk of getting
meningococcal disease following the MeNZB vaccine? What justification do they have for claiming yesterday that babies
were protected?
--
Parliamentary written question 5977 (2008). Sue Kedgley to the Associate Minister of Health
How many children under the age of twenty have died from meningococcal disease for each of the past ten years broken
down into bacterial type, age group, number of doses of the MeNZB vaccine, and District Health Board?
Answer in attached word document.
ENDS