To help stop the spread of the disease, Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Brett Sutton today announced the program would run from 22 January 2018 until 31 December 2018. 

A free, two-dose course of hepatitis A vaccine will be available to all MSM in Victoria and all people who have injected drugs in the past 12 months. 

The program follows a spike in cases reported among men who have sex with men and people who have used intravenous drugs with 27 cases of hepatitis A reported in the last nine months. 

The program will run from January 22 to December 31 this year and is available MSM in Victoria and all people who have injected drugs in the past 12 months. 

Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Brett Sutton said the government are working to contain the outbreak. 

“It is important that all eligible people get the free hepatitis A vaccine to stop the spread of this serious disease,” he said. 

Hepatitis A is spread through person-to-person transmission, including sexual activity, and is not limited to MSM.

Transmission can also occur whilst sharing injecting equipment such as needles, and through the consumption of contaminated food and water. 

It can take between 15 to 50 days to develop symptoms after a susceptible person comes into contact with hepatitis A.

Adults who get hepatitis A usually develop fever, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, followed by dark urine and yellow skin/eyes (also known as jaundice). 

In addition to the free hepatitis A vaccine, the meningococcal ACWY vaccine is also free for all MSM until 31 December.

The Victorian Government has also made the HPV vaccine free for all MSM aged up to 26 years of age until 31 December 2018. 

The hepatitis B vaccine remains free to all MSM as a long-term approach to protect against liver disease and liver cancer. 

To find out more about the free vaccinations, contact a GP or sexual health clinic, or visit the Better Health Channel at here.