Meningitis Vaccination Is A Go: All Babies Will Be Offered The New Vaccine
The new vaccination will be offered to all babies in the UK. [Photo: Rex]
Whether you’re pro or anti vaccinating children, it’s good to know your options and get clued up on the newest vaccine on the block.
A new programme to vaccinate all newborn babies against meningitis B has started in the UK. After a year of discussion, the NHS approved the new jab back in March, and Britain’s the first country in the world to offer it.
Once approved, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed that it should be available by the end of the year – making it’s September launch ahead of schedule.
“We can go ahead this year with rolling out the meningitis B vaccine and that’s something families, particularly those with young children, will really welcome,” said Jeremy Hunt.
The vaccine, called Bexsero, costs £20 a time and will be available on the NHS – costing a total of £16 million. It’s the steep price that’s been the reason for the delay on approving the vaccine in the UK, after over a year of debate.
Up until now, it wasn’t deemed cost-effective and the government have been trying to knock down the price. But finally it’s all been sorted and is now available to babies aged two months old, with boosters at four months and 12 months.
A catch-up programme will also target babies born since May who have missed the first jabs.
The vaccination will help reduce meningitis B cases. [Photo: Rex]
Babies under the age of one are at the most risk to contracting the meningitis B infection – which can be fatal in 10 per cent of cases. But the aim of this new jab is to prevent up to 4,000 cases by 2025. GPs will probably give the new vaccine in with the five-in-one jab and the rotavirus oral vaccination.
You can view the NHS’ full childhood vaccination schedule here.
What Is Meningitis B?
According to the NHS website, Meningococcal group B bacteria is a “serious cause of life-threatening meningitis and septicaemia (blood poisoning) and the leading infectious killer of young children in the UK.”
It affects around 1,200 people, usually babies and children, in the UK each year – and around one in 10 die from the infection. It can also cause brain damage, limb loss and epilepsy.
Many health professionals and UK charities are supporting the new vaccination and urging parents to consider it.
“To know that babies will be protected is fantastic and another great step forward in our fight against meningitis,” says Sue Davie, from Meningitis Now.
And Dr David Elliman, a consultant in Community Child Health at the Whittington Health NHS Trust, says, “It is great news. The vaccine will mean the numbers of children suffering this terrible illness will be further reduced.”
Will you take your baby for the new vaccine? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK.
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