Meningitis: Vaccination

(asked on 23rd February 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people vaccinated against meningitis in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
 Portrait
Jane Ellison
This question was answered on 26th February 2016

The National Health Service immunisation schedule includes vaccines which protect against the capsular groups of meningococcal infection A, B, C, W, and Y in the form of four vaccines: Meningococcal capsular group C (MenC), Haemophilus influenzae type b/meningococcal capsular group C (Hib/MenC), Meningococcal capsular groups A, C, W and Y (Men ACWY) and Meningococcal capsular group B (MenB).

Statistics for the Men C and Hib/MenC vaccines are available on the Health and Social Care information Centre (HSCIC) website and can be found at:

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB18472

The MenB immunisation for infants was introduced on 1 September 2015. Preliminary vaccine coverage for children born in July 2015 was 94.0% for one dose and 84.8% for two doses when measured at six months of age.

MenACWY immunisation was added to the national immunisation programme in August 2015 following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to respond to the rising number of meningococcal W cases. The objective of the programme is to immunise all teenagers in school years 9 to 13 before they complete academic year 13. This is being done by replacing the routine adolescent MenC booster given in years 9 or 10 with the MenACWY vaccine, and by a series of catch-up campaigns targeting older teenagers. Data for the MenACWY vaccine is not yet publicly available.

The Department is advised on all immunisation matters, by the JCVI, an independent expert advisory committee.

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