Alexis Albert died in July after contracting meningococcal disease six days after she celebrated her seventh birthday.

Her mother Rowshae said, “I was actually quite hurt hearing that the Government are actually taking this seriously. Why didn‘t the Government or the health officials announce this actually during the winter season where it started peaking?”

The Government is launching an urgent emergency vaccine programme to fight a new strain of MenW in Northland. Six people had died nationwide in the past year, three of those occurring in the Northland region.

Health Minister David Clark said, “meningococcal disease was a terrible illness which had impacted our country before. In the last few weeks, Pharmac and the Ministry of Health have sourced 20,000 doses of the vaccine which covers the meningococcal W-strain, as well as strains A, C and Y.”

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