Community-led diphtheria vaccination campaign to manage a diphtheria outbreak in a remote Aboriginal community

Abstract

In 2022, five cases of diphtheria were identified in and around Wujal Wujal, a discrete Aboriginal community in Far North Queensland. This prompted a mass diphtheria vaccination campaign in the community which increased the proportion of residents aged ≥ 14 years receiving a diphtheria containing vaccine in the prior twelve months from 5% to 74%. No further cases were detected in the subsequent twenty-two months.

Keywords: Aboriginal; Corynebacterium diphtheriae; diphtheria; outbreak; public health; vaccination.