6 July 2020 - The National Immunisation Program has been amended from 1 July 2020 to improve protection for those most at risk against the potentially fatal meningococcal disease.

For the first time, the Meningococcal B vaccine (Bexsero) is being made available for free to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants under two years, who are almost four times as likely to contract this disease as non-Indigenous children.

Around 20,000 Indigenous children are expected to be vaccinated each year.

For pneumococcal disease, the National Immunisation Program will now provide one dose of the Prevenar 13 vaccine to people aged 70 years and over.

Read Minister of Health press release