Men B vaccine for all new babies from Sept - what about the rest under 5?

[Anticyclone]

All newborn babies will get the meningitis B vaccine from September.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33200775

Apparently it's "common in children under 5" and clearly enough of an issue for the government to want to vaccinate.

So surely that leave the rest of us with kids under 5 feeling a bit more vulnerable? 1200 cases a year... is that a significant number or not?

Also, forgive my ignorance, but is it even possible to vaccinate once a child has missed the 2, 4 and 12 month jab time slots?

I wondered this too...

Me too. Seems we have to pay, and I hope I'm remembering this correctly but it's 3 jabs at about £100 each.

I also wondered. Maybe someone with info will pop along soon...?

It's also more common in teenagers/adolescents. What about them?

And yes, it is entirely possible to vaccinate later. It was trialed on young children.

My GP surgery is offering to do it privately once the national programme is rolled out. So guess from Sept onwards. Will be expensive though- I'd also heard £100 per jab.

They do privately in Cardiff and Bristol as well. £125 per jab for 3 jabs.

If your baby is too old for the jab roll out you can pay to have them privately- at any age. It's a real shame so many babies have missed out, but it doesn't look like there is any catch up program planned for older babies. If your baby was born after 1 May this year then they should get the vaccine.

We've been holding off paying for DD to have the vaccine, hoping that she would be eligible for catch up, going to have to fork out about £300 now, but it's worth it. My brother died as a teenager from it.

There is a new vaccine for teenagers- think it's for strains CYW but doesn't include men B. The Bexero vaccine also covers Men W which has been on the rise and is just as deadly as Men B.

More info:
www.meningitis.org/menb

I am appalled that older babies and.toddlers aren't being covered!

I told my hv about this and she had never even heard about it. My ds2 is 4 months in September so I hope he is eligible. Like previous post what do I do about other children/babies who miss the cut off. My ds1 will have just turned two.

Mmm, I had heard that it hasn't been tested on children under ten. In fact this site says that it is approved for children from 10 to 25 years of age www.bexsero.com/us/parents/index.html

It has been tested in under 10s www.medicines.org.uk/emcmobile/medicine/28407

You can vaccinate privately. 2 doses for 2 year olds and older, 3 doses for younger. It is useful to shop around for cheaper prices, as they vary a lot among clinics, but the vaccine is exactly the same.