Offer teenagers a meningitis B vaccine on NHS, advisers tell UK government

Teenagers should be offered a vaccine on the NHS to protect against deadly Meningitis B (menB), government advisers have recommended.The move by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which needs approval from the government, means young people should get a jab around the age of 15, with catch-up programmes for those who would otherwise miss out.It follows a series of outbreaks of meningitis, with the most serious being in Kent earlier this year, which left two teenagers dead.The JCVI is recommending: A booster jab around age 15 for those who had a menB jab as a baby (those born on or after 1 May 2015). The first cohort this recommendation applies to will turn 15 in 2030. Children who missed the jab as a baby will be offered two doses. It “strongly supports” giving two doses of the menB vaccine to children born on or before 31 April 2015. They would get this when they are around 15. This group were not offered the vaccine on the NHS as babies so missed out on protection as infants. Offering jabs when they hit their teens protects them at the point they are next most at risk. A catch-up programme to ensure anyone who misses a vaccine does not lose out.It would be up to each nation of the UK to decide whether the financial cost of providing it was worth it and, if so, how to offer it.The move is separate to the announcement last month of a summer programme, which still stands. Under this, around a million Year 13 pupils and those aged under 25 starting university or other further residential education this autumn are being offered two does of the menB vaccine on the NHS this summer.Prof Wei Shen Lim, the chair of the JCVI, said of the summer programme: “We encourage everyone who is eligible to book an appointment online to receive the vaccine at a local pharmacy, in time for the second dose to be received before heading off to university or college.“For protection, two doses of the menB vaccine are necessary, at least 28 days apart.”He said the JCVI had handed its recommendations for a future routine menB adolescent vaccination programme to the government and the Department of Health would consider it.Data suggests the menB vaccine is highly effective, providing strong protection for at least five years after vaccination.Juliette Kenny, 18, died in the Kent outbreak and her family have been campaigning for teenagers and young people to be routinely given access to the menB vaccine.