Ivana-baby, yes, the menningicoccal IS for the scary strain! As I have mentioned earlier, a child at Jack's day care got menningicoccal and the health dept came to talk to us all about the risks for our kids, and gave antibiotics to those who were most exposed. I asked tonnes of questions and found out:
- there are 2 strains that are common in Aus, B and C
- the vaccination is for strain C
- Strain C is the nasty one,
- USUALLY (but not always), Strain B is not as bad
- the vaccination is effective for 19/20 children.

Also, as I mentioned in an earlier post, my GP this week (when Jack had his chicken pox vaccination) told me that there are definately nasty variants of chicken pox which the vaccine protects the child from. He listed about 4 but I can't remember what they were (pg brain!). I was not going to do this one thinking it unnecessary but then I decided to because of the fact that there can be very serious effects from chicken pox and also because the GP assured me this was one of the safest vaccines. Also, if the vaccines wear off, they change the immunisation schedule to get the kids re-vaccinated as teenagers, or at whatever age is appropriate, so they are not left at risk.

HTH, Melanie