£750 for meningitis jabs! Private clinics accused of cashing in
PRIVATE clinics have been accused of cashing in on the desperation of parents by charging up to £750 to vaccinate children against meningitis B.
The same three- dose treatment would cost the NHS around £60.
The deadliest form of the bacterial infection has been highlighted by the death of Faye Burdett and the ‘two weeks of hell’ suffered by England rugby star Matt Dawson when his son contracted it.
Now families accuse private medical centres of exploiting their desperation – and worldwide shortages of the vaccine Bexsero – by increasing the price.
Children under one have been vaccinated on the NHS since last year, but those born before May 2015 must pay to have it done privately.
Last night, a petition to get the NHS to fund the vaccine for all children under 11 had more than 809,000 signatures. It is the most signed in parliamentary history and will be debated by MPs.
Heartbreaking photos of two-yearold Faye, from Maidstone, Kent, and Dawson’s two-year- old son Sami – who has recovered – hooked up to medical machines panicked parents into trying to get their children vaccinated.
But while the NHS has enough stocks of the vaccine, private supplies are running out because of a global supply problem.
Now many clinics have increased prices before the expected release of more vaccine this summer by its manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline.
The company charges £75 a dose, but the NHS gets an undisclosed discount, taking the cost down to an estimated £20. Private practices pay the full GSK price unless they can also negotiate a discount.
one clinic, run by TV doctor Arun Ghosh, has imported the vaccine and is charging £250 a dose. Most children require two or three doses, so a course could cost up to £750. The Liverpool clinic says on its website it offers the vaccine for £155 a dose, but last week parents on its waiting list were told in an email that this is being increased for a new batch it has obtained and will offer from April.
‘These vaccines have costed [sic] us much more to obtain and therefore we will be retailing at £250 per dose,’ it says. ‘We appreciate this price is higher than the usual price and if you wish to remain on the waiting list until the summer stocks are released, we will then be returning to the previous price.’
Mother- of-two Emily Wood, 39, from Swindon, said she had started looking into prices to vaccinate her son Hugo, three, when Faye died and had found jabs costing £100 to £120 a dose.
But when she checked again a few days later, she said many clinics had increased their prices. one – the Regent Street Clinic, which has centres in the Midlands and the North – put prices up from £95 to £150, she added.
A price list for this month on an archived version of its website confirms the vaccine was advertised at £95 a dose, but yesterday it was up to £150 for the summer batch.
The Medical in Bristol told Mrs Wood the vaccine had cost £135 a dose, but was now £149 and might go up again ‘due to demand’ when stocks are replenished.
She said one of her friends had joined a waiting list at Ghosh Medical and had been sent the message offering the vaccine at £250 a dose.
The Children’s Immunisation Centre, which has centres across the country, was offering the vaccine at £190 dose, plus a one-off registration fee of £50 for new patients.
The Same Day Doctor in Manchester also charges £190 a dose, while the city’s Doctorcall Medical Services offers it for £195. In com- parison, Boots offers a full threedose course for £190, although it has no vaccine available.
Mrs Wood said: ‘This isn’t just a pill – this could save my child’s life. It’s disgusting that they are cashing in on parents’ fear. These clinics should be named and shamed.’
Sue Davie, head of the charity Meningitis Now, said last night: ‘It would clearly be wrong for anyone to profiteer from this situation. This vaccine should not only be available to those who can afford it.’
Ian Liddell-Grainger, a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Child Health and Vaccine Preventable Diseases, said: ‘For clinics to profiteer on something which is affecting people’s health and lives is disgraceful.
‘People’s lives are being played with. To charge £250 a dose really is disgusting. I will bring this up in Parliament if I can.’
Justine Roberts, of the parenting website Mumsnet, said: ‘It’s shameful if private clinics are exploiting the fear and anxiety of parents to make a quick buck.’
Dr Ghosh said his clinic had imported a stock of Bexsero at twice the standard cost. He added his business usually earned £30 on each vaccine, but would make £5 less on the £250 dose.
James Arthur, chief executive of The Medical, which has clinics across the southwest, said: ‘We won’t have any stock until July. We’ll look at our pricing then.’
The Regent Street Clinic did not respond to requests for comment.
GSK said it ‘works with a number of private providers and contractual price agreements are negotiated on a case-by-case basis’, adding: ‘ These agreements are confidential and specific details cannot be shared.’
Doctorcall and the Regent Street Clinic have run out of the vaccine.
Symptoms of meningitis, which causes an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord, usually begin suddenly and get worse rapidly. They might include a high fever with cold hands and feet, vomiting, irritability, muscle pain and a red rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it.
‘It’s shameful if they are exploiting fear’