Australian Health Minister Kay Patterson is urging New South Wales (NSW) Health Minister Morris Iemma to immediately launch a meningococcal C vaccination program for children between the ages of 15 and 19 years, rather than waiting until July as NSW has planned. "These school-based clinics must be up and running very soon to ensure as many as possible NSW high school students receive the best possible protection against meningococcal C disease," Patterson asserted. According to NSW chief health officer Greg Stewart, the federal government had been informed that implementing the program in NSW schools would take a little longer, as they do not currently have a school-based immunization program. Stewart noted that the program will vaccinate 1.2 million children and teenagers over a three-year period.