Key facts
- UK experts recommend routine free MenB vaccination for 15-year-olds.
- The recommendation aims to protect against meningitis B, a serious and potentially fatal disease.
- The JCVI recommends a booster jab around age 15 for those who received the vaccine as infants.
- Children who missed the infant jab will be offered two doses at age 15.
- The decision to implement the vaccination program rests with individual UK nations.
- A summer program offers the vaccine to Year 13 pupils and those under 25 starting university.
UK health experts are recommending that all teenagers be offered a free vaccine against meningitis B (MenB) around the age of 15. This recommendation from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) marks a shift from previous advice and follows concerns over the UK's largest and fastest-growing outbreak of the disease, which occurred in Kent earlier this year and resulted in two teenage deaths.
The JCVI is urging the government to consider introducing MenB jabs routinely for secondary school-aged individuals to enhance protection against a disease that can be fatal. If adopted, individuals who received the vaccine as infants would require only a single booster dose as teenagers. Children who missed the infant jab would be offered two doses around age 15. The first cohort this recommendation applies to will turn 15 in 2030.
Data suggests the MenB vaccine is highly effective, providing strong protection for at least five years after vaccination. Prof Wei Shen Lim, chair of the JCVI, stated that invasive meningococcal disease is a rare but severe illness with potentially devastating consequences, and that the committee collaborated with meningitis charities and considered feedback, including from families affected by deaths or life-changing complications.
The ultimate decision on whether the financial cost to the NHS is justified and how to administer the vaccine will lie with ministers in each of the UK's nations. Separately, a summer program is underway offering two doses of the MenB vaccine to around one million Year 13 pupils and those under 25 starting university this autumn. Prof Lim encouraged eligible individuals to book appointments for the summer program, emphasizing that two doses, at least 28 days apart, are necessary for protection.