New Meningitis B vaccine

From September all newborn babies in England and Scotland will be offered a vaccine to combat meningitis B.  It will be given to babies at 2 months, 4 months and 12 months old and is in addition to all the current vaccinations that are on offer.  About 1,200 people – mainly babies and children – get meningitis B each year in the UK and tests suggest that the new Men B vaccine, called Bexsero, will protect against around 90% of the meningococcal group-B bacteria strains circulating in the UK.  It is expected that Wales and Northern Ireland will follow suit shortly afterwards.

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.”

See BBC report here