{"id":785174,"date":"2026-09-28T10:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/785174\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T10:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:28:11","slug":"meningitis-vaccinations-offered-on-campus-to-south-east-freshers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/785174\/","title":{"rendered":"Meningitis vaccinations offered on campus to South East freshers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A University of Sussex spokesperson said all incoming UK students had been sent NHS guidance and vaccination booking information before arriving on campus.<\/p>\n

They said the university would continue working with public health partners to encourage vaccinations and support students who need a second dose.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson added that MenB vaccinations would also be available through the university’s community pharmacist.<\/p>\n

Alicia Siraj, interim deputy director of public health for NHS England South East, said the community pharmacy scheme was “making it easier for eligible young people to get protected”.<\/p>\n

More than 20 young people, mostly students, were infected in the UK’s worst outbreak of meningitis B earlier this year, in a cluster linked to a Canterbury nightclub.<\/p>\n

All required hospital treatment, while nine were admitted to intensive care and two died.<\/p>\n

Scientists have since said they have discovered why the bacteria responsible for the outbreak proved so dangerous.<\/a><\/p>\n

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said an exchange of genetic material from other bacteria found naturally in some people’s throats created a new variant that spread between clubgoers and caused severe illness.<\/p>\n

Experts stress that the MenB vaccine currently being offered to more than a million young people starting university provides protection against the strain.<\/p>\n

The NHS said first-year university students were around seven times more likely to develop meningococcal disease than young people of a similar age who do not attend university.<\/p>\n

The disease can cause sepsis and become life-threatening in a short period of time.<\/p>\n

Health officials said that while outbreaks remained uncommon, the disease could have a profound impact on individuals, families and communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A University of Sussex spokesperson said all incoming UK students had been sent NHS guidance and vaccination booking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-785174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}