Kent students to be offered targeted meningitis B jabs after two more cases
Vaccination programme to be launched on Canterbury campus as strain B of disease identified in fatal outbreak
TL;DR
- Two more cases of meningitis B have been confirmed in Kent, bringing the total to 15, with four cases involving the B strain.
- Two deaths have occurred, and a targeted vaccination program is being launched for students at the University of Kent's Canterbury campus.
- Pharmacies are experiencing low stock of the meningitis B vaccine, leading to calls for a nationwide NHS catch-up program for those born before 2015.
- French health authorities alerted the UK to a second confirmed case in France involving a student who attended the University of Kent.
- The UKHSA is advising those who visited Club Chemistry in Canterbury on March 5, 6, or 7 to come forward for preventive antibiotics.
- Experts note that students lack immunity to meningitis B, as the vaccine has only been routinely offered to young children since 2015.
- Concerns exist that early symptoms of meningitis can be mistaken for other common conditions, and doctors could have been informed of the outbreak earlier.