MenB vaccination offer expanded to include some year 11 pupils in Kent

Meningitis vaccinations will be offered to year 11 students across four Kent schools, the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.

Health chiefs have confirmed that pupils aged 15 and 16 will be offered the meningitis B (MenB) vaccination at schools where it has already been offered to older year 12 and 13 students. Around 800 pupils will be offered the jab.

The widening of the vaccination is a ‘precautionary measure’ to ensure longer-term protection, the UKHSA has said, as well as to help ‘minimise disruption to school attendance at a critical time in the academic year’.

NHS England has also asked GP practices across the country to administer MenB vaccines to University of Kent students who have returned home.

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As of 23 March, no new cases of meningococcal disease have been reported for the second day in a row following an outbreak in Kent earlier this month which has seen the death of two people. A total of 20 cases have been confirmed and three remain under investigation.

Last week the UKHSA identified the strain of meningitis linked to the outbreak as MenB.

Since 2015, the MenB vaccine has been available on the NHS as part of the routine childhood immunisations schedule – however this means many aged over 10 have not had it, unless they received it privately from a pharmacy.

In response, the government launched a targeted MenB vaccination programme for some students at the University of Kent with up to 5,000 pupils initially offered the jab, starting on 18 March.

More than 10,000 people have now been vaccinated and over 13,000 of preventative antibiotics have also been administered.

Meanwhile, UKHSA has been working with academic experts from across the UK to produce a technical briefing with the aim of sharing data on the outbreak for the use of government and academic partners.

It includes early evidence and preliminary analyses.

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It reveals that the outbreak is ‘unusual in size and pace compared to past outbreaks’ and potential drivers ‘may be social and environmental factors, bacterial strain, or population immunity, or a combination of these’.

Data also shows, while the majority are in education, five people impacted are not students.

Most patients (87%) attended Club Chemistry in Canterbury, which has been linked to the outbreak, at least once from 5 March to 7 March before becoming unwell.

The technical briefing also shows the medium age of those affected is 19.

Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said: ‘This preliminary analysis offers strong reassurance that our existing vaccinations and antibiotic treatment offer will be effective against this strain.

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‘In collaboration with the research community, we will continue intensive laboratory investigations of the strain to determine how the spread of the outbreak may have been influenced by the bacterial strain, social or environmental conditions, and population immunity.’

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