HOW MANY MORE BABIES HAVE TO DIE?
Now 500,000 join call for ALL children to get meningitis jab
MORE than half a million people have signed a petition demanding that all children under 11 be granted access to a lifesaving meningitis vaccine.
The growing campaign was last night backed by doctors, MPs and health charities, who said it was a disgrace that British children are still dying from the disease.
Public anger around the issue was roused by the death of two-year-old Faye Burdett, who died on Valentine’s Day. She was never given the Bexsero vaccine, which can protect against meningitis B, the disease’s deadliest form.
Her death has triggered a growing and heartfelt campaign, with a petition to Parliament last night signed by more than 500,000 people.
Last September Britain became the first country in the world to launch a vaccination programme for meningitis B, a disease which kills about 120 people each year and leaves another 400 with lifelong disabilities.
Each jab is thought to cost the NHS £20, yet the vaccine has been made available only to babies during the first year of their life. Older children are not eligible, and parents who wish to have the vaccine must pay privately, but the three injections usually cost more than £450.
Government advisers say more evidence is needed about how effective, and cost-effective, the vaccine is before it is made available to
‘Britain should be leading the way in the world’ ‘This not a matter for politicians’
older groups but campaigners say any delay will lead to more children dying.
Meningitis B is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord, which can lead to multiple organ failure and death. It affects about 1,870 people in the country each year, half of them under-fives, striking so quickly it is often too late to treat by the time it is spotted. Babies and young children are especially susceptible because their immune systems are not fully formed.
The petition, one of the biggest seen on the Parliament website, calls for all children up to the age of 11 to be vaccinated. Tory MP Ian Liddell- Grainger, member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Child Health and Vaccine Preventable Diseases, said last night: ‘Britain should be leading the way in the world so we can combat meningitis, because meningitis is beatable, beatable, beatable.
‘Charities, drugs companies and government all need to work together. I support this brilliant campaign. We’ve beaten smallpox, we’ve beaten polio — meningitis can be the same. It is inexcusable that meningitis is still a problem in the 21st century.’
Stephen McPartland, Tory MP for Stevenage and another member of the all- party group, added: ‘Meningitis terrifies families, which is shocking when we have the capability to vaccinate against it.’
Sue Davie, CEO at the Meningitis Now charity, said: ‘Our vision is a future where nobody in the UK loses their life to meningitis. From our perspective, the only way to prevent it is through vaccines.
‘In an ideal world everybody would get it. We know that is not realistic, but if you go after the most at risk groups, that would be a fantastic step forward.’
She said that all under-fives at least should be given the jab: ‘We have a vaccine that can prevent it and we should at least protect those most at risk.’
Mrs Davie compared the programme to the meningitis C vaccine, launched in 1999. That was initially available to anyone up to the age of 19, later extended to 24.
Later, when enough people had been vaccinated and widespread immunity established, the vaccination programme was reduced to just young babies and teenagers.
The Bexsero vaccine was adopted by the NHS after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advised that it was ‘ costeffective’ in a large programme for children under the age of one.
It was rolled out last September after several months of negotiations between the NHS and GlaxoSmith- Kline, the company which makes the vaccine. GSK usually charges £75 for each dose but gives the NHS an undisclosed discount, taking the cost down to an estimated £20.
Dr Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Commons health select committee, last night said the joint committee should review its evidence: ‘ The Joint Committee on Vaccinations should review the evidence, should explain their decision and then government should follow and fund the evidence.
‘This is not a matter for politicians who do not know all the evidence and all the facts.’
Professor Andrew Pollard, an Oxford University paediatrician who chairs the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, last night insisted his board was constantly reviewing the evidence.
He added that his team was examining extending the vaccination programme but it would first focus on whether teenagers, rather than toddlers, should receive it.
There are six sub-types of the meningococcus bacteria: A,B, C, W, Y and Z. In Britain, B and C are the biggest problem but W is rising fast and those between 15 and 19 are especially susceptible to this type of the disease.
Former England rugby captain Matt Dawson urged people to sign the petition after his son Sami was treated for the disease. He said he was ‘very keen’ for every child to get the jab on the NHS.
A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘When any new immunisation programme is introduced, there has to be a date to determine eligibility — a decision based on the best independent clinical recommendation to ensure we can protect children most at risk of MenB.
‘When our nationwide meningitis B vaccination programme was introduced last year, the UK became the first country to protect our babies from this devastating disease.
‘All children who are now aged up to nine months should have been offered the vaccine.’