The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have decided that the meningitis B vaccine will not be rolled out. The decision was made on the basis that it is not cost effective and needs further trials to prove its efficacy.
The announcement has raised much concern amongst meningitis charities who had been hoping the vaccine would be adopted by the NHS as early as this coming January.
Yearly, 1870 people contract meningitis B in the UK, with approximately 10 people dying each year. Children under 5 are most at risk from developing the condition which leads to inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. 1 in 4 patients who develop meningitis are left with serious after-effects such as brain damage or limb loss.
While vaccines currently exist for the other strains of bacterial meningitis, a prevention against meningitis B is not available on the NHS. The vaccination for meningitis B comes as the result of 20 years of research and was considered a significant medical breakthrough.
It is said that it offers 73% protection against meningitis B and had been tested among 8,000 people in clinical trials. Researchers believed it would have significantly reduced the number of meningitis B cases.
The JCVI raised questions about the effectiveness of the vaccine. They want larger trials to show how it affects the number of cases tested and how it controls the spread of the bacterium which causes the condition.
The JCVI have said:
“We need to work with the scientific community and the manufacturer to find ways to resolve these uncertainties so that we can come to a clear answer.”
Sue Davie, chief executive of the Meningitis Trust and Meningitis UK expressed her disappointment at the JCVI’s decision:
“We understand the committee’s concerns about impact and cost, but we believe this vaccine is safe and we know it will save lives. The more we delay the more lives are being lost.”
