Meningitis b vaccine campaign?

[MouseSquirrelMum]

Hi
I just wrote a long post that disappeared, so I'll try again and hope it doesn't appear twice in different versions!
I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post, if not I apologise and please do move it somewhere better....
Basically I am wondering if MNHQ would be interested in supporting meningitis trust's campaign to make the meningitis b vaccine available to everyone? My dd had this disease last year and we were very very lucky. I'd like every parent to have the opportunity to avoid the horrendous consequences it usually brings. Would MNHQ be interested? If not, is there somewhere on MN where I could post a link to the petition or would that not be appropriate? I can't see anything on here already but I'm still finding my way around.
Thankyou

Hello again
Any advice, anyone? Is this in the wrong place? Should I post a link to the petition somewhere?

not approved

Can't tell you if this is the right place but I've just found your post after seeing the news tonight.
I really would like to hear the collective wisdom of those on mumsnet about the vaccine as I'm wondering if I should get my DS and DD vaccinated privately.

Currently no where doing private ones though I guess they'll all start now to fill the gap!

I want to get my youngest 2 done. Older ones aren't high risk so would check out more but likely to do them too. Ds had meningitis and was lucky ( though he's too young for us to be 100% sure)

I'm also considering private vaccination if it is available. Very annoyed that this vaccine isn't being rolled out for all kids.

I think there should be a Mumsnet petition on this subject. I've just contributed to the Meningitis Trust petition and will write to my MP.
www.meningitis-trust.org/about-us/news/beat-it-now-our-fight-is-not-over/

Sorry - I shouldn't have promoted the other petition. Can't work out how to delete my previous message.

Can anyone point me to the data on the risks of this vaccine ? I haven't had a chance to look it up yet - presumably with no adoption there's not so much data but there must be some from the trials ?

Thanks

Thanks everyone. I'm so glad you've spotted my post and i can't believe it's being turned down on grounds of cost!

I haven't known at all how to raise mumsnet users awareness of this problem and I don't understand whether linking to the petition might be ok on a different section of Talk? It would be fantastic if Mumsnet could do our own Campaign trinners. According to the bbc:

Head of the Meningitis Research Foundation said "There is a tiny window of opportunity over the holiday season to encourage a change of heart and we are urging our members and supporters to lobby their MPs while we submit yet more, potent arguments to the JCVI on why this vaccine is vital."

Perhaps Mumsnet can write to an MP? How do I find out?

Ps didireally, I can't find much on the research except snippets in press/campaign sites. The new vaccine is called Bexsero, if you google "bexsero research" there are some names of journals etc, if that helps

And AlphaBetaOoda, i'm so sorry to hear that you've had a meningitis experience too.

I've emailed my MP ( he has baby & toddler so appealing to him as a parent to)

Thanks AlphaBeta
There's a discussion thread running on this now, which is good, and someone has included the link there to the petition. I'm going to mention this thread there to see if others would support a campaign.

I'm going to email my mp too. He's George Osborne, so I will ask him to put our money where it matters.

Where's the discussion? I started one the other day but no response

Hi there

We'll probably have to get back to you after the weekend on this one as our 9 to 5 ers have all left the building.

In the meantime thought, please DO post a link to the campaign here

There has also been some discussion of this on our vaccinations topic

HTH
MNHQ

Hi oliviaIsOfftheGin
Thanks very much for the reply, I've posted the petition on the petition board now here
and i look forward to news from the 9-5 people soon.
Alpha and trinners - big thank you for the support!

Definitely agree we should support this with a MN petition!

didireally, the Meningitis Trust say

Like all vaccines, this vaccine can cause side effects although not everybody gets them

Uncommon side effects, described as up to 1 in 100 people, are high fever, seizures (including febrile seizures), vomiting (after booster) dry skin, itchy rash, skin rash, paleness

Rare side effects (may affect up to 1 in 1,000 people), Kawasaki syndrome (a rare condition that mainly affects children under the age of five. It is also known as mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome)

That's based on the trials on 7500 people.

Oh, and private vaccination likely to be available "this autumn", although no indication yet on where or how much it will cost.

Thanks rosie and Toliver for joining in. I'm heading over to AIBU now to find out why mumsnet talk is so quiet on this .

Hello oliviaisofftheginmumsnet. Any thoughts from MNHQ on a campaign or mumsnet response?

You'll probably get Olivia's attention faster by PMing her.

Thanks pachacuti. I will

Hello

Thanks for drawing our attention to this one. We do understand people's concerns.

Our Campaigns team is absolutely chocker at the moment with our Bounty campaign and another campaign that's launching at the end of this week , and in truth we're going to be mightily busy with those for the next few months, so - sadly - we're not going to be able to offer official support for this one at the moment.

We'll try to Tweet something out about it though (we have about 50,000 followers on Twitter) to raise awareness and see what people think - and we'll include a link to the petition in that.

Thanks
MNHQ