The gap MenACWY leaves
Meningococcal bacteria come in several groups. The travel vaccine, MenACWY, covers four of them and is the one Saudi Arabia requires for Hajj and Umrah. Group B is not among them, and in the UK group B causes the majority of meningococcal disease.
That gap catches people out, and it catches them out specifically after a travel consultation: someone has MenACWY for a trip, is told they are covered for meningitis, and reasonably believes that is the end of it. It is not the same vaccine and not the same group.
Who the NHS already covers
Babies have been offered MenB routinely since 2015, at eight weeks, sixteen weeks and one year. Anyone born from about 2015 onward has almost certainly had it - check the red book before paying for anything.
There is no routine NHS offer for older children or adults. That is the group who come to us: students moving into halls, and parents of children born before the programme started.
Why it moves fast enough to matter
Meningococcal disease is uncommon and it is brutal when it happens. It can go from the first vague symptom to critical illness inside a day, and survivors can be left with hearing loss, amputations or brain injury.
Know the symptoms whatever you have been vaccinated against: a fever with a severe headache, a stiff neck, dislike of bright light, confusion, and a rash that does not fade when a glass is pressed against it. The rash is a late sign - do not wait for it.
- Fever, often with cold hands and feet
- Severe headache, stiff neck, dislike of bright light
- Drowsiness, confusion, or being difficult to rouse
- A rash that does not fade under a pressed glass - a late sign, not a first one
- In babies: a high-pitched cry, refusing feeds, a bulging soft spot