Southland School-Based Meningococcal B Campaign

Thursday 7 April, 2005

Nurses Answer the Call for Southland School-Based Meningococcal B Campaign

Southland nurses have responded positively to the call to become part of Southland’s Meningococcal B Vaccination campaign, with 50 applications received and expressions of interest continuing to flow in.

Southland District Health Board’s (SDHB) Meningococcal Vaccination Strategy (MVS) Project Manager Judi Dennis said she was thrilled with the response to the campaign and the interest shown by nurses.

“It is fantastic to see so many nurses putting their hands up to help us roll-out this important public health campaign,” Mrs Dennis said.

A total of 63 position descriptions were sent out and applications closed on Wednesday 6 April. Mrs Dennis said she was now keen to process applications as quickly as possible so nurses can begin training.

The national meningococcal B vaccination campaign will be launched in Southland on 30 May 05 to immunise around 30,000 babies, children and young people against New Zealand's epidemic meningococcal B disease.

The programme will be delivered through two key campaigns - the school-based campaign (where school children will be vaccinated at school) and the primary care campaign (where babies, pre-schoolers, and out-of-school young people aged up to 20 will be vaccinated at their family doctor or other primary care provider).

Nurses are needed for the school-based programme, which will see teams of nurses visiting schools to vaccinate a total of 19,000 school-based children.

ENDS

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