Meningitis B vaccine could 'potentially' be used for Irish young people

Thousands of students in Kent were offered meningitis B vaccines in the wake of an outbreak that has led to two deaths among 21 confirmed cases up to Monday

The advisory committee on vaccinations and immunisation in Ireland is to review “potential use” of the meningitis B vaccine in teens and young adults.

This illness has been in the news since a fatal outbreak in Kent in south east England led to two deaths among 21 confirmed cases up to Monday. All 21 cases of meningococcal disease were the meningitis B strain.

The outbreak affected university students mainly, with concerns that sharing of vapes may have helped this spread more quickly than usual.

The meningitis B vaccine has been part of the childhood vaccination scheme in the UK since 2015 and in Ireland since 2016.

It means people in their 20s missed out across both regions.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) does not currently advise a catch-up vaccination campaign for the HSE to carry out.

However, a spokeswoman said its working plans for this year do include “an evidence review of MenB vaccination in adolescents and young adults”.

This plan, set out at the end of last year, could potentially see a change to the vaccination schedule, but no conclusion has yet been reached.

“The purpose of this planned evidence review is to summarise updated evidence in relation to the burden of invasive meningococcal B disease in adolescents and young adults,” she said. “It will review the potential use of meningococcal B (MenB )vaccines in this population.” 

This review will be used to inform any potential changes to Niac recommendations, she said. She also said the situation in Kent is “actively being discussed by Niac".

Niac has also been receiving regular updates on meningococcal disease in Ireland from the HSE for its own committee meetings since 2022.

These updates come from the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre, which monitors reports of infectious illnesses.

Calls for a catch-up meningitis B campaign from doctors in Ireland were previously reported in the Irish Examiner.

Dr Niamh Lynch, paediatrician at the Bon Secours hospital in Cork, said she has concerns about the illness.

“You have a cohort of people who are now coming into their teenage and university years, who are wide open and have no protection against meningitis B, although they do have protection against A, C, W and Y [strains],” she said.

“The rationale is it’s expensive, and these outbreaks are rare. But I would counter that by saying now there’s a large outbreak and people are dying.”