Meningitis vaccination to be offered to all babies

ALL babies in Scotland and England can be vaccinated against meningitis B from September in a move that experts described as lifesaving.

Parents will be able to get jabs for the strain of the deadly brain infection for youngsters at the ages of two and four months, with a booster when they are a year old, the Department of Health and Scottish Government has announced.

They said that the infant programme, available from GPS, meant England and Scotland were the first in the world to begin “national and publicly funded meningitis B immunisation”.

Teenagers aged 17 and 18 in the final year of sixth form and other students aged 19 to 25 who are starting university this year will also be able to receive a vaccination against the A,C, W and Y strains of the infection from August, the DOH said, which is “particularly important” for those heading off to university.

Public health minister Jane Ellison said: “I am very proud that we will be able to offer families extra peace of mind with these new vaccination programmes from this summer.

“The nationwide meningitis B programme will mean that England leads the world in offering children protection from this devastating disease.”

Around 1,200 people, mainly babies and children, get meningitis caused by the meningococcal group B bacteria each year in the UK, with around one in 10 dying from the infection.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced the plan to roll out vaccinations in March, after the Government reached a deal with drug maker Glaxosmithkline.

The decision followed controversy over the Bexsero Menb vaccine after it emerged it was still not available to children despite being recommended by health advisers a year previously.

Scottish health secretary Shona Robison said: “These vaccination programmes will offer families extra peace of mind.”