2023-06-08 22:27:22
The Comité sur l’immunisation du Québec recommends that a vaccine protecting once morest four types of meningococci be offered to teenagers in Québec from now on, as is already the case elsewhere in Canada. This change would cost the state an additional $1 million per year.
From September 2022 to February 2023, there were 17 serogroup Y meningococcal infections in Quebec. However, the annual average from 2010 to 2019 was 6 cases per year.
In addition, two young people aged 15 and 23 lost their lives due to the disease. Following this upsurge, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) asked the Quebec Committee on Immunization (CIQ) to issue an opinion on the vaccination program once morest this bacterium. The Committee made its conclusions on Thursday in a document of regarding twenty pages.
The Committee recommends that Quebec change the type of vaccine offered to adolescents in 3e secondary to cover four types of meningococci: A, C, W and Y. Currently, young children and adolescents are only vaccinated once morest type C.
In all the other Canadian provinces, a quadrivalent vaccine is already offered to young people.
Note that type B is the most common in Quebec, but it is combated by a different vaccination program.
Meningococcus is a bacteria found in the respiratory tract, according to the MSSS website. There are several types, classified by subgroups (or serogroups) A, B, C, W and Y.
Meningococcus can lead to serious illnesses such as meningitis (infection of the membrane surrounding the brain) or sepsis (blood infection).
Symptoms of a meningococcal infection are high fever, severe headache, nausea and vomiting, deterioration of the person’s condition, red or blue patches on the skin, or hemorrhages the size of a pinhead on the skin.
A million more dollars a year
According to the CIQ, changing the type of vaccine offered to the adolescent population would cost the state an additional million dollars per year. The difference between the two vaccines is $13 per dose. Each adolescent cohort is made up of regarding 95,000 people, according to the Committee.
Increasingly used around the world, quadrivalent vaccines cost less than before, the Committee notes.
Currently, 90% of young children and 87% of adolescents in Quebec are vaccinated once morest meningococcal type C.
The Committee believes that the use of a vaccine protecting once morest groups A, C, W and Y would help to reduce the risk for the whole population. It would also be beneficial to align Quebec’s vaccination schedule with that of the rest of Canada.
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