4EK meningococcal fundraiser sees year 11 students at Ballarat school vaccinated against deadly disease

Abby McGrath knew something was seriously wrong when her daughter Emma’s health deteriorated suddenly one morning in 2017. 15 hours later, Emma died. She had contracted meningococcal Septisemia-w. A bacterial blood infection that spreads rapidly. She was very caring, she had a lot of friends, she did ballet for 13 years she was the glue, she just naturally kept everyone together. After Emma’s death, immunisations for most strains of meningococcal became free for children under the national immunisation program. But the vaccine for strain b is still optional and costs up to 400 dollars per child in Victoria. There have been 17 cases of meningococcal in Victoria so far this year, 12 of them were the b strain. Abby has helped set up the foundation called 4ek and has been campaigning to get the vaccines added to the national immunisation program, but in the meantime the foundation has had to take more direct action to protect children at phoenix college in Ballarat, 4ek has raised enough money to fully vaccinate all year 11 students. “it's very expensive for most students to do so, so it's very generous of them to come here.” Victoria's department of health says it will be guided by the national immunisation program, which is set by the commonwealth, on whether it should expand the eligibility for the meningococcal b vaccine but in south Australia and Queensland, it's already free for children. “i don't want another family to go through what we go through. This is a living nightmare everyday” While she waits for action, Abby McGrath says Emma’s foundation will continue crowd-funding vaccines.