Meningitis: Vaccination
(asked on 2nd March 2016) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation plans to start its review on the use of Bexsero meningococcal B vaccine in the UK.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) finalised its recommendations on the routine use of the meningococcal B vaccine Bexsero® at a meeting in February 2014. The JCVI published a final position statement on Meningococcal B vaccination in March 2014, which can be accessed at:
The Meningococcal B vaccination was introduced from 1 September 2015 for those babies who are due to receive their primary immunisations starting at two months of age on or after 1 September 2015 (i.e. those born on or after 1 July 2015), with a one-off catch-up programme for those infants born from 1 May 2015 to 30 June 2015.
The JCVI keeps all vaccination programmes under review and considers new evidence as it becomes available. The JCVI most recently received an update on the meningococcal B vaccination programme at the February 2016 meeting of the Committee, however, at this stage it is too early to fully assess the impact of the programme. The minutes of the February JCVI meeting will be published on March 16 2016.