The meningococcal B vaccine Bexsero will be added to the NIP from next month for Indigenous infants and people of all ages with specified medical risk factors, the Federal Health Department has announced.

Patients with asplenia, including sickle cell disease or other haemoglobinopathies, as well as those being treated with eculizumab, are among those who will be eligible for the MenB-MC vaccine, with dosage dependent on their age.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants will be eligible for three doses of vaccine — at two, four and 12 months of age. But those who also have one of the listed risk factors will be eligible for a fourth dose, to be administered at six months.

Catch-up doses for infants under two years old will be funded until 2023, the health department has said on its website.