Members of the IPD team left to right Julie Morgan, Andy Anglemyer and Andrea McNeill.
Photo: Supplied / PHF Science
A team of publicly funded scientists have been recognised at this year’s Science New Zealand Awards for their discovery of a major gap in the childhood vaccine schedule.
In late 2020, cases of invasive pneumococcal disease in children under 5 began to climb, and when scientists looked closer, the cases were mostly in children vaccinated against it.
Epidemiologist Dr Andy Anglemyer explained streptococcus pneumoniae was something most people carried asymptomatically – but if the bacteria got into normally sterile sites like the blood or the brain, it could make people very sick.
Affected children would often get so sick they required dialysis.
Pneumococcal is one of the diseases covered by the childhood vaccine programme. It did not often lead to death, Anglemyer said, as it was well treated in New Zealand, but it could lead to kidney damage requiring dialysis or even a kidney transplant.
New versions of the vaccine had increased the number of serotypes, or variation of the bacteria, that were covered – from seven when the programme launched in 2008, to 10, to 13.
But in 2017, the vaccine programme reverted to the previous version, covering 10 serotypes – importantly, removing coverage for the one known as 19A.
Anglemyer explained this serotype was much more virulent, meaning people carrying the bacteria were much more likely to develop invasive disease, and much more penicillan resistant, limiting treatment options.
As 2021 went on, serotype 19A began to cause more and more infections, Anglemyer said.
“It wasn’t a new type of bacteria that was happening on our shores, it was just that the opportunity for it to grow and fester in the community was the perfect storm.”
There were 350 cases of the disease notified in 2020. Of those, 37 were in children under 5.
By 2023, that had more than doubled to 757. And of those, 81 were children under 5.
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After noticing the trend, the team at PHF Science (formerly ESR) conducted genomic sequencing to identify the specific strain of bacteria, and pulled together the evidence which allowed the Ministry of Health to make a case to Pharmac to reinstate the broader vaccine at the end of 2022.
By 2024, the rate of invasive pneumococcal disease in under-2s had halved, estimated to have prevented more than 30 child hospitalisations.
Total cases were down from 2023 levels by 39, to 718. Of those, 50 cases were in children under 5, down from 81. PHF found there were no cases of IPD due to 19A in children under two years who had received three doses of the vaccine.
Now, the invasive pneumococcal disease team at PHF Science are the winners of the “Collaboration for Impact” award in the Science New Zealand Awards 2026.
“To see a vaccine working in real time is really cool,” Anglemyer said.
“We learn a lot from textbooks and theories, we know that after vaccination, a population will reach herd immunity, and you’ll see drops in disease.
“But this wasn’t theory. This was empirical data looking at patients, realising that not only were we seeing a drop in numbers, but also that meant a drop in hospitalisations, morbidity, pain and life struggles, which was just awesome to see.”
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