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No more political jabs - time to start delivering vital vaccine to NSW school children

The New South Wales Government is moving too slowly to start vaccinating high-risk 15-19 year-old school students against meningococcal C, the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Kay Patterson, said today.

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No more political jabs - time to start delivering vital vaccine to NSW school children

The New South Wales Government is moving too slowly to start vaccinating high-risk 15-19 year-old school students against meningococcal C, the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Kay Patterson, said today.

She said NSW was the only State that had not signed up to start the program to ensure that all 15-19 year-old school students were vaccinated against meningococcal C, which had 686 cases in Australia in 2002.

Senator Patterson said NSW Health Minister Craig Knowles had a lot of excuses to try and explain why his State dragged behind the others in delivering vaccinations to school students.

"Talk and excuses won't roll out this important vaccination school-based program in his State. He should act and act now to ensure that the health of school children in NSW is not compromised through lack of will and action on his part," she said.

Senator Patterson said the Federal Government's $291 million National Meninococcal C program would vaccinate 6 million Australian children and adolescents, giving them protection against the potentially lethal meningococcal C bacteria.

"Given that the 15-19 years age group is one of the highest risk categories of getting the disease, it is a shame that New South Wales is moving so slowly to vaccinate this group," she said.

"All the other States have acted because they realise it is critical to ensure that people in the highest-risk groups are vaccinated against this deadly disease, particularly before the seasonal peak, which occurs between June and September.

"There is a concern that the inaction by NSW could result in NSW students not getting their free vaccinations before the mid-winter peak of the meningococcal C disease.

"That is clearly not good enough."

Senator Patterson called on NSW Health Minister Craig Knowles to take action to ensure that NSW school students were vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Senator Patterson said Mr Knowles, despite getting record Commonwealth funding and having pressure taken off his public system through private health insurance, was very quick to try and blame everyone else for his performance in running his State's hospitals and health system.

"The time has come for Mr Knowles to start facing up to his responsibilities in his State. He can start with ensuring that his students are protected against meningococcal C instead of spending his time on political stunts and trying to score cheap political points in the run-up to the State election."

Media inquiries, contact Randal Markey, Media Adviser, Senator Patterson's office, 02 6277 7220.