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Lilian Goh

Plan to fight meningitis, pneumonia

A vaccine that  helps prevent an infection that causes meningitis and a serious form of pneumonia  is likely to be offered to all newborns  in Hong Kong  in  a HK$100 million programme  under government consideration.

The World Health Organisation-recommended vaccine  can protect people against infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria.

A medical source said a University of Hong Kong  study commissioned by the Centre for Health Protection confirmed the benefits of the PCV-7 vaccine.

'It is estimated  the [cost of]  adding the vaccine to the citywide immunisation programme  would be about HK$100 million a year for all  newborn babies,' the source said.

'The government hasn't  made a decision, probably because it is still considering the money matter. It is quite certain the government will recommend  children  get the vaccine. The problem is whether the government or people  will pay the bill.'

Paediatrician Daniel Chiu Cheung-shing  said infection by Streptococcus pneumoniae - it can cause diseases including pneumococcal pneumonia and meningitis -  was quite common in Hong Kong.

According to government  statistics, the  incidence of invasive pneumococcal diseases in Hong Kong is  2.3 per 100,000  people, while the annual incidence of invasive meningococcal infections is  between 0.03 and 0.21 per 100,000 people.

Worldwide, the WHO estimates pneumococcal diseases kill 700,000 to a million children under five every year.

Dr Chiu said children under  two were most at risk of infection. 'The most worrying is meningitis, which can cause death in two days after infection  or lifelong impairment to the patients' vision and hearing,' he said.

The source said the price that the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine manufacturer, Wyeth, offered to  private doctors was about HK$500 per shot,  and it recommended  three or four shots per child.

Assuming  about 50,000 babies are born  in Hong Kong each year, the cost would be  between HK$75 million  and HK$100 million.

'If the government buys the vaccine in bulk, it can probably bargain.  But adding on  expenses  like manpower and promotional campaigns, the cost will be about HK$100 million,' the source said.

A spokeswoman  for Wyeth Hong Kong said the company had been working closely with the centre's scientific committee on vaccine preventable diseases to discuss the cost-effectiveness of PCV-7 but  had not submitted a  plan to the centre yet.

University of Hong Kong microbiologist Ho Pak-leung said many countries had  added  the vaccine to the national immunisation programme, especially after the  WHO  recommended doing so  in March.

The vaccine, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2000, has been registered in  more than 70 countries and by January had become  part of the national immunisation programme in a dozen countries,  including the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada.

'It would be best if the government  could provide the vaccine for free ...  to effectively lower the number of pneumococcal diseases, the coverage rate should be over 90 per cent,' Dr Ho said.

A spokeswoman for the Centre for Health Protection said the  cost-effectiveness of incorporating new vaccines in the childhood immunisation programme was still being studied.



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