The petition for calling for wider vaccine coverage for children is understandable,but the money might be better spent on the many other causes of death in the youngThe recent distressing images in the news of severely ill children are a potent reminder of the devastation caused by meningitis and septicaemia (blood poisoning) and confirm why this disease is so feared. Thankfully, cases like this are now significantly less common due to the introduction in the UK over the past 24 years of vaccines against three of the common causes. Since 2015, and a further vaccine has been offered to adolescents in response to a rise in cases of a particularly virulent strain.
Last year yet another vaccine was included in the armamentarium against this terrible condition: MenB. This specific vaccine took many years to develop,due to characteristics of the bacteria that meant it could not be made in the same way as the existing ones. It also took two years from the vaccine being licensed for its introduction to be agreed upon, with its exhaust approved for infants aged two and four months with a booster at 12 months.
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Source: theguardian.com