Free meningococcal jabs for some but ‘lottery’ persists

Callum Godde | May 11, 2026

A mother who lost her teenage daughter to a rare disease has vowed to keep fighting for every Australian child to get access to a life-saving vaccine.

Victoria has earmarked $9.4 million to vaccinate Year 10 students, or age equivalent children, against meningococcal B from January 1.

Meningococcal B is the most prevalent strain of the disease in Australia, responsible for at least 80 per cent of cases in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The disease kills between five to 10 per cent of patients and leaves another 10 to 20 per cent with brain damage, hearing loss or a learning disability.

A vaccine for meningococcal A, C, W, and Y strains is free under Australia’s national immunisation program for all children and young people.

Under the program, meningococcal B immunisations are only free for Indigenous children under one and Indigenous and non-Indigenous children two and under with medical conditions.

Babies and teens in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland are covered under state-based regimes but parents in other jurisdictions are left $110 to $150 out of pocket per dose.

In 2017, Abby McGrath’s 19-year-old daughter Emma-Kate died from meningococcal septicaemia W, 15 hours after she got sick.

The former student of Ballarat’s Loreto College had recently returned to Australia after completing two weeks of charity work in Cambodia.

She had been vaccinated for meningococcal C but not other strains of the disease.

“It was just like a freight-train running through her body,” Ms McGrath told reporters on Monday.

The 4EK foundation, a charity set up in the memory of Emma-Kate, has campaigned for expanded free access to meningococcal vaccines, including for the B strain.

“I’d like to see every child in Australia be immunised against this,” Ms McGrath said.

“Every state needs to do it.”

The vaccine gap came into even sharper focus following the death of 16-year-old Melbourne boy Levi Syer, who succumbed to meningococcal B in September.

His mother Norliah Syer-Peterson launched a petition to make the vaccine free for all, attracting more than 41,000 signatures and the backing of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

The college’s chair Anita Munoz said cost should not be a barrier to access for any Australian family and called for the meningococcal B vaccine to be made free or at least subsided nationally.

“We should not have a postcode lottery,” Dr Munoz said.

Health Minister Harriet Shing defended Victoria’s funding commitment only covering the Year 10 cohort and lasting one year.

“We’re continuing to advocate to the commonwealth to consider adding this important vaccine to the” National Immunisation Program, she said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier criticised the state government’s policy as “piecemeal”.

“It’s a one-off announcement for one group,” she said.

The state opposition has committed to cover the cost of a meningococcal B vaccine for all infants aged six weeks to 12 months and adolescents in Year 10, as well as a catch-up program for other children.