Meningitis survivor's fight for better care sparks vaccine access debate

Penny Taylor lost both legs below the knee and endured multiple surgeries; her children were told to say goodbye as she faced 2% survival odds; meningitis has caused deaths including a teenager in 2014.

In the chambers of Parliament, a woman who once faced two-percent odds of survival placed before lawmakers the quiet catastrophe that follows a medical crisis when the system turns away: Penny Taylor, who lost both legs to meningococcal septicaemia in 2009, has spent fifteen years navigating a recovery the health system largely left her to fund and manage alone. Her testimony, alongside the grief of a father whose daughter died from the same disease, has renewed pressure on New Zealand's public health institutions to widen vaccine access and build meaningful aftercare for those who survive. Th

Meningitis survivor's fight for better care sparks vaccine access debate

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