Meningitis and/or HPV vaccination before uni?

[NeedingCoffee]

DS is, I think, a couple of years too old to have had one of the meningitis strains vaccine as a toddler and was also a year too old to be offered HPV... again I need to check that as I have menopause-brain, but I seem to think DD has had HPV (she's a school year younger), but not DS. And that neither have had one of the meningitis ones.

Has anyone has these done privately before uni? Any advice on providers, cost etc? And any medically-informed advice on whether it's a good idea to consider would of course be amazing!

Could you elaborate on why it's a tough vaccine please? Was your child very unwell after having it? I'm contemplating getting it for my child but just want to know what to expect ...

You can get HPV from your GP up to the age of 25.

My two kids had it last January. Zero side effects for either of them and these are kids who after their last Covid vaccination were vomitting and in bed for 4 days

Zero side effects for DD

My 3 had it, as I saw a terrible case of Men B as a student. It commonly causes the clotting off of arms and legs, so survivors can be left very physically disabled (as well as brain damaged).

Mine had headaches and a temperature after for about a week - they had no reaction to other vaccines, but everyone is different, and I wouldn't let these effects stop my child having the vaccine.

Meningitis Signs and Symptoms in Teenagers | Meningitis Now

Should clarify - my 3 DC had the vaccine, not the disease, thankfully.

the link very helpfully explains why teenagers are at risk when they go to university

Note- men b also offers some protection against gonorrhoea- and as there is increasing antibiotic resistance against gonorrhoea that’s a positive!

That sounds unpleasant! :)

That is good to know. I hadn't realised until I read up on it that the largest group affected by that particular STD internationally, is now the 15-24 yr old age group.

DD spent half the summer in Africa so the poor kid has been jabbed for yellow fever, rabies, typhoid, Hep A….. in the Spring, then had her Men B vaccines shortly after she came back for results day etc. She was most affected by Men B (really tired, sore arm), but able to socialise and work the next day. She took painkillers and ate brownies.

It can’t have been too bad as she let the pharmacist give her a flu shot at the same time as her second dose. That one was fine, apparently.

Just a reminder of the importance:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr70zr51rmeo#:~:text=Triathlete%20ready%20to%20face%20life%20with%20no%20limbs%20after%20sepsis

Thanks all, I've booked her in for the first dose tomorrow! The second one will have to happen when she's at uni unfortunately, but I can see that Boots do offer it in her university town so if I book it for her, she will hopefully turn up for it.

Hmm ... I'm confused after reading this thread ... I booked an appointment at the GP for my son to get a meningitis jab but the nurse told him he didn't need it because he'd already had it. Perhaps she meant a different type of meningitis jab. 🤔

She will have meant the men ACWY vaccine, which is on the Vax schedule for this age range. Men B isn't on the vaccine schedule (it was introduced in 2015 for babies) and a lot of practices will tell you your child has had all their vaccines as a result. Men B can only be provided privately as far as I know.

Yes, it seems that is generally the response from surgeries, an airy 'oh they've already had everything meningitis'. I don't know if this is lack of knowledge or reluctance to recommend private treatment? You would think they should know to say, 'they have had the scheduled vaccinations, but now babies are given protection for an additional form of meningitis - you can access this privately'.

On the actual jab - DC had a very sore arm and this went on for 3 days. No other symptoms.

Thanks, yes. I now wish I'd gone with my son to the GP nurse appointment to ask a few more questions. They do have a Travel Vaccination service which offers private vaccinations alongside NHS vaccinations, so the nurse could potentially have offered it.

Yes I think you get told you’ e been vaccinated for men b even if you haven’t because they either are thinking if the other vaccine you mention, or they don’t think that just because they do the men b now on babies it won’t have been given to our children who were babies before that date.

Does anyone know if you can have the vaccine at any time? My DD is only yr12 but pans to go to uni so was wondering whether to get it done sooner rather than later.

I was aware of this but only looked at appointments in the last week, they are all booked up at home and also in DS uni city (for Men B). Anyway we have booked his first dose at a Boots near his Halls, in early October, end of his second week. The second jab has to be 4 weeks afterwards and we couldn’t book that far ahead so he will have to book himself in when he has the first one.

Iv had viral meningitis a few years ago. After I recovered from the week in hospital I got vaccinated against men ACWY & separately men B (x2 doses 1 month apart) I’m 42 but after having the viral one I never wanted to EVER experience or risk getting it again in any form!
I had an extremely sore arm for 7 days after each dose of men B.
Nhs only started vaccinating kids from men B in 2015 so yes lots of children are not covered. My child was born in 2019 so has had vaccine but if she hadn’t I’d 100% get her vaccinated especially if going to uni.

You should contact your GP practice. They can look at records and offer a catch up programme or refer you to your local vaccination team. I work in a team where we get referrals from all ages. We look at the history and offer appropriately.

@SuperSue77 My daughter (USA resident) had her 1st Men B vaccine dose when she was 17 (your year 12) and then the 2nd one 6months later (the doses have to be a minimum of 1 month apart but can be up to 6months apart I think). The protection should last for about 5 years. Her doctor over there said if she was intending to go to University she recommended that she should have the Men B vaccine. It’s not a routinely scheduled vaccine over there but much more common.

That's really helpful thanks. My DD has only just turned 16 so won't be 17 for ages. Also, she wants to do a 5 yr course (medicine) so probably better we wait until she is due to go so that it covers the time she is at uni. I think some med schools offer vaccines for med students, so maybe she can get it under that.
Thanks again :-)

DD is friends with lots of newbie medic students. I’m pretty certain that one needed 13 jabs (don’t think he travels beyond nice bits of Europe and the school vaccine service didn’t appear to contact GP’s to update records in the Covid years).

He didn’t have to pay.

I got my son the first dose just before he went off to uni (so probably a bit later than ideal 🙄) and the pharmacist said the second dose had to be a minimum of six months away, not a month. I wonder why we got such different advice from others on this thread?

He had very few side effects btw, just a slight temperature the night of the jab, but he had a nasty cold anyway. No sore arm I don't think.

My daughter is already in her third year of uni (of a six year course). Is it worth her getting it too or is most of the risk when you first start? She is not in halls but a flat.