Evaluating the post-licensure effectiveness of a group B meningococcal vaccine in New Zealand: a multi-faceted strategy.

A nationwide strategy to control a group B meningococcal disease epidemic in New Zealand using an epidemic strain-specific vaccine (MeNZB ) commenced in 2004. In the absence of randomised controlled trials investigating the efficacy of this particular vaccine, a complement of observational methods are planned to evaluate the post-licensure effectiveness of this vaccine strategy. The two main approaches involve a Poisson regression model investigating the overall impact of the MeNZB programme on disease rates over time capitalising on detailed population-based disease surveillance data and the staged roll-out of the vaccine campaign, and a case-control study that aims to estimate vaccine effectiveness in pre-school children. The studies are designed to minimise the potential biases inherent in all observational methods and provide critical data on the effectiveness of a major public health intervention.