Lessons from a community vaccination programme to control a meningococcal disease serogroup W outbreak in remote South Australia, 2017.

From December 2016 to February 2017, two cases of invasive meningococcal disease and one case of meningococcal conjunctivitis, all serogroup W, occurred in Aboriginal children in the Ceduna region of South Australia. The clustering of cases in time and place met the threshold for a community outbreak. The Ceduna region is a remote part of South Australia, with more than 25% of the population identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. As part of the outbreak response, a community-wide meningococcal vaccination programme against serogroups A, C, W and Y was implemented in a collaboration among different agencies of the South Australia Department for Health and Well-being, Aboriginal health and community services providers, and other local service providers and government agencies. The programme comprised an outbreak vaccination schedule, targeting all people aged Between March and June 2017, 3383 persons were vaccinated, achieving an estimated coverage of 71-85% of the target population, with 31% ( The participation of a large number of local and non-health-sector stakeholders in programme planning and implementation, a clear response management structure and high community acceptability were identified as key factors that contributed to the programme achieving high vaccination coverage. The need to develop standard operating procedures for community-based outbreak response interventions to ease logistical challenges was considered an important lesson learnt.

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