'Meningitis jab supply nowhere near demand'

A pharmacist has warned the supply of available meningitis B (MenB) vaccines "is not getting anywhere near demand" after an outbreak in Kent led to a spike in requests for the jab.

Vikki Furneaux of Monkbar Pharmacy in York said students and their parents had been requesting the vaccine but the pharmacy had only been able to order in four doses a week.

She said: "We had to remove the ability to book the meningitis B vaccine from our website as we got an influx of bookings and we weren't able to get stock."

It comes after the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the outbreak, which has killed two people, had passed its peak.

The pharmacy only usually carries two MenB jabs at one time as demand is normally very low.

"We don't usually get really very many requests for it. The main time we do get requests would be usually early summer and that's mainly students who are going to some American universities who insist on proof of vaccination," Furneaux said.

However, confusion around what type of vaccines are available has also led to some people booking the wrong jab.

"We've had lots of people booking in for MenACWY vaccine and then realising it was not the one they wanted and wanting to swap to the MenB which we don't have," she said.

"It has taken one of our team members almost all of her full working hours to deal with this issue."

A total of 29 confirmed or suspected cases of meningitis have now been linked to the Kent outbreak, which is thought to have originated in a Canterbury nightclub.

Although no cases have been confirmed in Yorkshire, local medical professionals say they are keeping alert.

"Some people have left university in Canterbury already and come home so we're concerned that those patients actually do need to be followed up and do need to be offered vaccinations," said Dr Brian McGregor, medical secretary at YOR Local Medical Committee.

The strain linked to the outbreak is MenB and routine vaccinations against it only began to be rolled out in 2015, meaning the current generation of students and others in their late teens were not protected.

"We'll know within two to three weeks whether it's been contained but the expectation is that the measures that have been put in place should be sufficient," said McGregor.

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