GPs are being urged not to turn their backs on the 4CMenB vaccine, despite a large Australian school’s trial failing to show it had any effect on herd immunity against Neisseria meningitidis.

Professor Robert Booy, chair of the Immunisation Coalition, said it was disappointing the cluster-randomised controlled vaccination trial of almost 35,000 SA high school students failed to reduce the carriage rate of disease-causing N. meningitidis genogroups, including group B.

“But you mustn’t throw the baby out with the bath water,” he told Australian Doctor. 

“This vaccine, as we’ve seen in the UK, is having real-world impact on recipients … by way of direct protection against MenB disease.”