Vaccinations expanded as ‘precaution’ while no new cases recorded in meningitis outbreak
Meningitis vaccinations are being expanded to more students in Kent as a ‘precautionary measure’, whilst the peak of the outbreak has now passed.
Meningitis vaccinations will be offered to year 11 students across four Kent schools, the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.
The peak day of the outbreak with the five cases reporting onset of illness was 13 March, while the UKHSA said the latest case to become unwell was on 16 March.
The latest figures from the UKHSA show that 20 laboratory cases of meningitis had been confirmed with two cases under investigation, bringing the total to 22.
All cases have been hospitalised and there have been two deaths since the start of the outbreak.
Health chiefs have confirmed that pupils aged 15 and 16 will be offered the meningitis B (MenB) vaccination at schools where it has already been offered to older year 12 and 13 students. Around 800 pupils will be offered the jab.
The widening of the vaccination is a ‘precautionary measure’ to ensure longer-term protection, the UKHSA has said, as well as to help ‘minimise disruption to school attendance at a critical time in the academic year’.
NHS England has also asked GP practices across the country to administer MenB vaccines to University of Kent students who have returned home.
Last week the UKHSA identified the strain of meningitis linked to the outbreak as MenB.
Since 2015, the MenB vaccine has been available on the NHS as part of the routine childhood immunisations schedule – however this means many aged over 10 have not had it, unless they received it privately from a pharmacy.
In response, the Government launched a targeted MenB vaccination programme for some students at the University of Kent with up to 5,000 pupils initially offered the jab, starting on 18 March.
More than 10,000 people have now been vaccinated and over 14,000 of preventative antibiotics have also been administered.
Meanwhile, UKHSA has been working with academic experts from across the UK to produce a technical briefing with the aim of sharing data on the outbreak for the use of government and academic partners.
The Kent meningitis outbreak was driven by a recently emerged strain of the disease, a lack of herd immunity and social mixing, the country’s health protection watchdog has said.
The cases that have been typed have been shown to be a ‘recently emerged’ subtype of MenB which has been circulating in England since 2020.
But the genetic make-up of the outbreak bacteria is also ‘clearly distinct’ within this subtype and has multiple ‘potentially significant’ genetic differences when compared to other MenB bacteria, the agency added.
The UKHSA said that these differences must be evaluated to ‘understand how they may change the behaviour of the bacteria’.
This, in addition to a lack of immunity in the affected population and environmental factors such as close contact, is most likely what caused the outbreak, UKHSA added.
The briefing said: ‘The outbreak of meningococcal disease in Kent is unusual in size and pace compared to past outbreaks.
‘The drivers of the outbreak may be social and environmental factors, bacterial strain, or population immunity, or a combination of these.
‘Understanding the drivers will help us to choose the right public health measures to prevent further cases and outbreaks.
‘It is highly likely that all of these factors are contributing to some degree.’
Meanwhile, a Kent hospital has admitted there was an earlier opportunity to raise the alarm about the outbreak of meningitis.
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust said that its first patient with the disease had presented on the evening of Wednesday 11 March – two days before it alerted the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
In a statement provided to Pulse’s sister title The Pharmacist, the foundation trust’s acting chief executive Dr Des Holden said: ‘We recognise there was an opportunity prior to diagnosis being confirmed on Friday 13 March to notify UKHSA.
‘We cannot go into the detail of individual patients’ care, but the trust has been in close contact with UKHSA since Friday 13 March to discuss the management of patients presenting with suspected meningitis.’
The UKHSA issued its first public statement in response to the outbreak on Sunday 15 March, which said that between 13-15 March 13 cases were notified with signs and symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia.
UKHSA’s technical briefing said that the earliest known case of the disease became unwell on Monday 9 March, with a further nine between 10-12 March.
A UKHSA spokesperson said that the agency had ‘well established processes’ for dealing with single cases or cases where there are small numbers of people affected.
This includes offering precautionary antibiotic to household or family members or people that have had an overnight stay during the incubation period.
The spokesperson added: ‘The events of Saturday night [14 March] with acutely unwell individuals triggered a largescale public health response on Sunday as the information emerged.’
Health secretary Wes Streeting last week said he would be asking the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to ‘re-examine eligibility for meningitis vaccines’ in the wake of this deadly outbreak.
Versions of this article were previously published across Pulse’s sister titles Nursing in Practice and The Pharmacist
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