A petition to extend the NHS meningitis B immunisation programme to cover all children in the UK has attracted nearly 600,000 signatures, making it the most popular in modern parliamentary history.

The surge in signatures came after the devastating impact of the disease was highlighted by the death of two-year old Faye Burdett on Sunday and former England rugby star Matt Dawson documenting his toddler son’s battle with the disease.



The rush to sign the petition, in the wake of the two cases, was accompanied by a huge rise in the number of anxious parents contacting helplines, websites and private clinics in a bid to secure supplies of the vaccine.

By Friday afternoon, almost 600,000 people had added their names on parliament’s website to demand that children at least up to the age of 11 are covered by the programme, which is currently limited to under-ones.

Sue Davie, the chief executive of patient group Meningitis Now, which is supporting the Burdett family, acknowledged that it was an emotive issue that had built up a head of steam.

“Our support for the petition is to get the debate going,” she said. “There needs to be a debate. We don’t want to panic people because this is a rare disease. We need to always show a balance. But this is making people realise meningitis is still a problem. We’ve been inundated with calls and hits on the website, and that in itself will save lives.”

The immunisation programme, the first of its kind in the world, was launched in September and offered to all babies born on or after 1 July last year, with a catch-up programme for babies born between 1 May and 30 June. Meningitis Now wants the catch-up to be extended to all under-fives, the group most at risk (although the risk is highest for the under-ones subgroup). Babies starting the programme while less than six months old have three doses in total. Children older than six months need two doses, which can set parents back up to £400 in total in a private clinic.

But as clinics and pharmacies, including Boots, reported being inundated by calls from parents – clinic comparison site WhatClinic.com said inquiries about vaccines had soared by 700% in a week – they were unable to meet the demand because of a shortage. Vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline continues to supply the NHS but has asked private clinics not to start new courses of vaccination because of “unprecedented demand”, with the supply constraints unlikely to be resolved until June.



Scientists have warned that a decision should not be rushed into, regardless of whether there is enough vaccine to expand the NHS programme immediately.

The Meningitis Research Foundation, which campaigned alongside Meningitis Now for the vaccine to be introduce free of charge for under-ones, is among those yet to be convinced.

Its head of research, Linda Glennie, said that more details about the vaccine’s effectiveness were needed because it was brand new and could not be tested in a large cohort study because of the rarity of the disease. As such, the UK’s immunisation programme will provide the first test of real-life effectiveness, she said.

“The vaccine is based on new technology,” said Glennie. “It’s predicted to cover between 73% and 88% of circulating strains in the UK but that is a prediction based on testing blood of people in trials in test tubes. That’s not the same as actually knowing it works. We need to look at the evidence.”

She said that there had been pressure from some of the foundation’s members to support the petition.

“Some people will say: ‘We know it’s not going to do any harm, why not vaccinate the whole world?’, particularly if you’re the concerned parent,” she said. “We would not tell people not to sign the petitions. We are just not able to make the case for policy makers [at present].”

Helen Bedford, a senior lecturer in children’s health at the institute of child health, University College London, said: “Decisions about which age group is offered any vaccine are based on the best scientific evidence about which age group will benefit most, and this includes issues of cost.”

The government is obliged to consider for debate any petition that attracts more than 100,000 signatures but the chair of the Commons health committee said it should not be railroaded into action.

Meningitis death: 370,000 sign petition in call for full vaccine cover Read more

Sarah Wollaston, a doctor and senior Tory MP, said: “This is a very serious condition but if we’re to run vaccination policy purely on the size of a petition then we would run ourselves into very difficult territory.”

However, she added that there was a “case to review the formula that is used to weigh up cost-effectiveness and I think that is what should now happen”.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “New immunisation programmes are always introduced based on the best independent clinical recommendations to ensure we can protect those children most at risk.”









