The McGowan Government has announced the nations first free Meningococcal vaccine for children.
Western Australian children aged one to four years will be the first in the country to have access to a free meningococcal ACWY vaccine.
Meningococcal disease can be life-threatening and at any one time about 10 per cent of people can carry the bacteria without falling ill.
In rare cases a small proportion of people will develop serious invasive infections of the blood and/or the membranes that line the spinal cord and brain.
Last year WA had 46 cases of meningococcal disease, six of which were fatal.
The highest attack rate occurred among children younger than five years of age.
A free vaccine will be available throughout 2018 for children under the age of five, the most vulnerable group with the most cases of meningococcal reported last year.
Funding of this vaccine, called MenACWY, will cost the State $5.7 million and is not part of the National Immunisation Program.
Health Minister Roger Cook criticised the Federal Government for not moving on the issue, forcing the state government to introduce the free vaccinations.
"Providing vaccines to protect public health is a Commonwealth responsibility yet they have remained idle on this issue for too long leaving the State Government to take control yet again on meningococcal vaccinations," he said.
"The Federal Government needs to act quickly and show some leadership ..... Put people ahead of dollars and add the MenACWY vaccine to the National Immunisation Program, as well as implement catch-up programs to protect at-risk community members."
MenACWY vaccination program will not prevent cases caused by meningococcal serogroup B strains, so some MenB infections may still occur.
MenB illness is currently less common in children than that caused by the four strains contained in the MenACWY vaccine.
Parents should contact their local GP or Child Health Clinic to schedule an appointment for their child to receive the vaccine.
The State is currently funding two other meningococcal ACWY vaccination programs, one for teenagers in Year 10 in 2018 and one for Aboriginal communities within regional Western Australia.
Mr Cook said the death of a West Australian from the disease last year sparked the preventative initiative.
He said the McGowan Labor Government is not prepared to put the lives of more Western Australians at risk while we wait for the Commonwealth to act.
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