Government ‘playing Russian roulette’ by not offering all young people meningitis jab, campaigners say

The government is playing “Russian roulette” with the lives of young people, a mother who lost her 18-year-old son to Meningitis B has warned, as an “explosive” outbreak of the deadly virus grips Kent.

Marrissa Mullans from Prestwich is calling on ministers to roll out the menB vaccine to all young people, not just those born after 2015. It comes after the number of cases linked to the current outbreak, which has already claimed two lives, grew to 20 on Wednesday.

The infections, now linked to two universities, at least five schools and the Club Chemistry nightclub, have prompted health officials to offer the vaccine to the 5,000 students living in halls of residence at the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus.

Pharmacies in the county are scrambling to get private supplies, as a surge in demand has left them with little to no stock. But the government has so far resisted offering the vaccine more widely on the NHS.

Ms Mullans, 46, has called for a rethink on that policy after she lost her son Alfie in June 2023 in what she has described as a “horrendous nightmare”.

She remembers how he came home from college feeling lethargic, had lost his appetite and complained of a headache. But it wasn’t until his parents noticed he had a rash on his chest the next morning that they suspected it could be meningitis and rushed him to A&E.

On the drive to the hospital, Mrs Mullans recalls looking in her rearview mirror and seeing Alfie look “purple from head to toe”. Once they arrived at A&E, medics tried to put him into an induced coma, but his heart stopped beating just a day after the onset of his symptoms.

“It was only after Alfie’s passing that we realised that he hadn’t had the meningitis B vaccination,” Mrs Mullans told The Independent. She explained he had all the vaccinations offered to him on the NHS, but menB was not one of them.

The MenB vaccine has been available on the NHS since 2015 as part of routine childhood immunisations given to babies, but that means many school children and university students are not vaccinated.

A year after her son’s death, Mrs Mullans launched a petition calling for all 16- to 23-year-olds to be offered the vaccine on the NHS and her frustrations have grown following the recent outbreak in Kent, which has also seen a suspected case identified in London.

However, she claims the response to her petition was that the vaccine is not “cost-effective”.

“When did we become a society that puts cost-effectiveness above the safety of young people?” Mrs Mullans said.

“The government is playing Russian roulette with these young people,” she added

“These young children and up until 2031, none of them will be vaccinated. We can’t live in a society where we are reactionary. We need the vaccine, it’s already licensed,” she added.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has asked the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to “re-examine eligibility for meningitis vaccines” for a wider group of people in light of the current cases.

He said the pace and spread of the virus had been unprecedented, but insisted he would not have a “knee-jerk reaction” to rolling out jabs more widely.

On Wednesday afternoon, the UKHSA issued an alert for NHS staff to look out for the signs and symptoms of meningitis, describing the illness seen in Kent as “severe with rapid deterioration”.

The UKHSA advised staff to wear masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) and urged doctors to have a “high index of suspicion” when people aged 16 to 30 show symptoms, warning them not to wait for a rash to appear before considering meningitis.

Backing calls for a wider vaccine rollout, Vicky Purdey, 37, who had viral meningitis in March 2024, believes “you can’t put a price on life”. She is urging the government to offer all young people the vaccine and provide better education on the signs and symptoms of meningitis in schools.

The mother-of-two, from Wimborne, was left housebound for a year during her recovery after she lost sensation in her legs and now relies on a wheelchair.

Mrs Purdey assumed she just had the flu and ignored her symptoms for a few days before she developed body aches, light and sound sensitivity, and a painful headache comparable to “childbirth”. She was rushed to hospital after her mum noticed she was slurring her words, where she was treated for viral meningitis.

“I don’t want anyone else to go through the same thing as I have,” she told The Independent. “I think a vaccine gives that barrier of protection to vulnerable people. I just don’t understand why, if there is the option to save lives, why the government wouldn’t do that,” she added.

The menB vaccine is available privately from Boots and Superdrug for £220 for two doses, which are to be taken at least a month apart. But pharmacies have reported low stock as demand soared this week.

The charity Meningitis Now is calling for the menB vaccine to be made available at a “fair price” on the high street and for it to be offered to young people as part of the NHS vaccination programme.

The Department of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.