All Jersey babies to be immunised against potentially fatal meningitis B

  • All Jersey babies to be immunised against meningitis B.
  • Follows announcement that the immunisation programme is to be made available in the UK through the NHS.
  • Learn more about the vaccine below.

AN immunisation programme to protect all Jersey babies from a potentially fatal form of meningitis is expected to be introduced later this year.

The Health Department has confirmed that it is due to implement the meningitis B vaccination programme after the UK announced it was to make a new form of immunisation available through the NHS.

  • Meningitis is an infection of the meninges (membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal cord)
  • Meningococcal bacteria are common and carried harmlessly in the nose or throat by about one in 10 people
  • They are passed on through close contact
  • Anyone can get meningitis but babies and young children are most vulnerable
  • Symptoms can include a high fever with cold hands and feet, agitation, confusion, vomiting and headaches
  • 10% of bacterial meningitis cases result in death.
  • 15% of those who survive bacterial meningitis are left with severe after-effects such as brain damage, hearing and sight loss, and where septicaemia (blood poisoning) has occurred, loss of limbs and scarring.
  • Bacterial meningitis kills more UK children under the age of five than any other infectious disease.

Yesterday the department announced that it was considering the Island’s position, but it has now confirmed it will go ahead with its own programme once it knows the UK’s agreed vaccine price following the deal with drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline.

Concerns had been raised late last year by UK campaigners over how long negotiations had been taking, with some claiming that any delays in making the vaccine available would put children’s lives at risk.

Dr Linda Diggle, Jersey’s head of healthcare programmes, said: ‘We are pleased to hear that our colleagues in the UK Department of Health have reached agreement on a price at which the NHS can buy the MenB vaccine.

‘This deal has taken a long time to negotiate and it’s great news that it is now confirmed.

‘In Jersey we benefit from being able to access children’s vaccines at the discounted prices negotiated by the NHS.

‘We are now expecting to learn what the agreed price is.

‘Once we have this information, the Health Department will move forward with our own preparations to implement a programme this year for babies in Jersey to protect them against this devastating disease.’

However, Dr Diggle said that the department was unable to release any price information about the MenB drug.

She added: ‘Meningitis B is a bacterial infection that particularly affects children under the age of one.

‘As with the rest of our childhood vaccine programme, it’s our normal practice in Jersey to follow the UK experts’ advice because patterns of infectious diseases here and elsewhere around the British Isles have always tended to be similar.’

The Meningitis Research Foundation has said that the MenB vaccination, known as Bexsero, is predicted to cover 80 per cent of meningitis B cases.

The disease is said to be fatal in about ten per cent of cases, with a quarter of survivors being left with long-term problems including deafness, epilepsy and learning difficulties, or facing the possibility of amputation.

In the battle against another form of the disease – Meningococcal W meningitis and septicaemia – the Health Department has also said it is due to offer 5,000 Islanders aged between 14 and 18 a vaccine.

Similar measures have been taken in the UK after it was revealed that there had been a five-fold increase in the disease over the last five years.

  • The UK is the first country in the world to introduce a national Men B vaccination programme.
  • 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.
  • Around 1,200 people, mainly babies and children, get meningitis caused by meningococcal group B bacteria each year in the UK, with around 1 in 10 dying from the infection. Many of those who survive suffer terrible permanent disability such as limb loss, brain damage and epilepsy.
  • Meningitis caused by meningococcal group B bacteria can affect people of any age, but is most common in babies and young children.
  • There are hundreds of different strains of meningococcal group B bacteria around the world and some tests predict that the Men B vaccine, called Bexsero, will protect against almost 90% of the ones circulating in the UK, although it is not clear how this will relate to lives saved or cases prevented.
  • Children will be routinely offered the Men B vaccine as part of the NHS childhood vaccination programme at 2 months, 4 months and 12 months and in babies the vaccine will be given by injection into the thigh.
  • The Men B vaccine consists of an inactivated (killed) strain of meningitis B combined with three proteins found on the surface of meningococcal bacteria. Together, the constituents stimulate the immune system to fight future exposures to meningitis B bacteria.
  • Like all vaccines, the Men B vaccine can cause side effects, but studies suggest they are generally mild and don’t last long.
  • Almost 8,000 people, including more than 5,000 babies and toddlers, have had the new Men B vaccine during clinical trials to test its safety.
  • The most common side effects seen with Bexsero in babies are fever, irritability and tenderness and redness at the injection site.

LAST September, students starting university were encouraged to get vaccinated against Meningitis C.

Dr Linda Diggle

It was the first time that the booster vaccine had been offered specifically to people leaving for university and the Health Department said at the time that

only Islanders going into their first year of university needed the jab, which was available through Island GPs.

It is likely that the students would have had the meningitis C vaccination as a young child, but immunity to the disease decreases over time.

Speaking at the time, Dr Linda Diggle, head of healthcare programmes at the Health Department, said that students returning to university or starting Highlands College didn’t need the vaccine, as they are at a much lower risk of contracting the disease.

‘This recommendation has come from the UK Department of Health,’ she said. ‘They are concerned that immunity among this year’s cohort of university entrants, who

last had a Meningitis C vaccine when they were pre-school age, are at risk due to the close contact students can have in halls of residence, particularly during Freshers Week.’

The Health Department said it was vital that students have the vaccination at least two weeks before leaving the Island because it takes a fortnight for the vaccine to provide protection.

In November 2007, Islander Sundeep Watts died from bacterial meningitis while at university, just two days after he was diagnosed with the disease.

The 19-year-old was a first-year law student at Oxford University.

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