Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, (a) what the current level of the stockpile of MenB vaccine is and (b) whether her Department has assessed whether stockpiles are sufficient for the current meningitis B outbreak, including through modelling.

The risk of infection to the wider population remains low. A targeted vaccination programme has been extended to everyone who has been offered preventative antibiotic treatment as part of this outbreak. A single course of antibiotics is highly effective at reducing transmission. Immediately after the outbreak was identified, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) deployed 50,000 doses of stockpiled antibiotics to the local area to ensure rapid access for those at highest risk.

UKHSA stock levels for a meningitis B vaccine are the equivalent to eleven months of use in the continued national immunisation programme. 26,500 vaccine doses have been delivered specifically in response to the outbreak in Kent and a further 30,000 doses have been released from future deliveries into UKHSA back to GSK for supply through the standard wholesaler market.

UKHSA continues to work with local resilience partners to ensure effective distribution. We currently have limited data, and our understanding of the dynamics is still developing at pace, as this is an unprecedented situation.