{"id":561010,"date":"2026-03-24T11:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/561010\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:36:22","slug":"meningitis-outbreak-triggers-surge-in-demand-for-vaccine-in-britain-policy-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/561010\/","title":{"rendered":"Meningitis outbreak triggers surge in demand for vaccine in Britain, policy debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

CANTERBURY, England – Young people in south-east England and beyond are lining up for the meningitis B vaccine after an outbreak killed two people<\/a>, sparking supply warnings from pharmacies and raising broader questions about the best public health response to the disease. <\/p>\n

People who fear they have been in contact with someone affected in the outbreak in Kent can get the vaccine and preventative antibiotics from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), university campuses, clinics and family doctors. <\/p>\n

Private demand for the vaccine from those worried about the disease in the wider population has also surged, pharmacies have reported. <\/p>\n

\u201cPharmacies have been inundated with requests for meningitis B vaccines in recent days,\u201d said the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which represents 6,000 independent pharmacies in Britain. <\/p>\n

At the University of Kent\u2019s vaccination centre, students were waiting for up to eight hours to get vaccinated in a 1.6km-long queue. <\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been to the uni in the past two weeks… so I feel pretty safe, but I thought to be sure just to get the vaccination,\u201d Mr James Haddad, a computer science student at the university, told Reuters as he joined the queue. <\/p>\n

Pharmacy chains Boots and Superdrug have both warned of shortages and implemented online waiting lists. <\/p>\n

On March 19, the government released 20,000 doses of the meningitis B vaccine from the National Health Service (NHS) supply to ease shortages on the private market, but the NPA said this was unlikely to meet demand. <\/p>\n

The meningitis B vaccine available on the NHS, Bexsero, is made by British drugmaker GSK. It is also available privately, alongside Trumenba, which is made by US firm Pfizer. Both cost around \u00a3200 (S$340) when bought privately. <\/p>\n

Adolescents in Britain \u2013 as in many other countries \u2013 are not routinely vaccinated against meningitis B, which is an infection of the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. <\/p>\n

Meningitis B is caused by one group of bacteria; other bacterial strains, as well as viral infections, can also cause meningitis. Symptoms include fever, drowsiness and vomiting, and it can become serious quickly. <\/p>\n

Since 2015, the meningitis B shot has been given to babies, the highest-risk group for the disease, with a different vaccine against other strains given to teenagers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can understand people suddenly wanting the vaccine,\u201d said Professor Brendan Wren, co-director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Vaccine Centre. But he said antibiotics were the best option for those who feared they had been exposed. Antibiotics start to work almost immediately, while immunity from the two-dose vaccine takes a month to build. <\/p>\n

The outbreak has brought to the fore questions over whether the meningitis B vaccine should be available to teenagers, who are the second-highest-risk group, more broadly. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A member of the Kent Community Health NHS Trust immunisation team administering a meningitis B vaccination to a student at a sports centre on the University of Kent campus on March 20.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a gap in the NHS vaccination schedule… There\u2019s a strong moral case for stepping in,\u201d said Mr Tom Nutt, chief executive of Britain\u2019s largest meningitis charity, Meningitis Now. <\/p>\n

In the wake of the Kent outbreak, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has asked the British vaccine advisory body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), to re-examine who should be eligible for the meningitis B vaccine on the NHS. <\/p>\n

He said it was not necessary for people to go out and buy a shot, as those at risk were covered by the UKHSA campaign. <\/p>\n

The University of Bristol\u2019s emeritus professor of paediatrics Adam Finn, a JCVI member for other vaccines, said recommendations on healthcare interventions such as vaccines were made on the basis of \u201ccost-benefit\u201d analyses. <\/p>\n

While the 29 cases in the Kent outbreak were an unusually high number, he said, it was unlikely to change the JCVI\u2019s position unless it was the first of several similar events. He said the JCVI would \u201cfollow the evidence-based methods it always uses to ensure that we all obtain the best value possible from the resources allocated to the NHS\u201d, adding that he understood this would not compensate for the pain experienced by those affected by meningitis. REUTERS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CANTERBURY, England – Young people in south-east England and beyond are lining up for the meningitis B vaccine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":["post-561010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}