Welsh Government 'considering' long term Men B Jab rollout
From this week a one off rollout will be made available to all students in Wales.
Last updated 25th Aug 2026
More than 17,000 students have received meningitis jabs as part of a drive to prevent incidences in Welsh universities – and the scheme could be extended to next year’s cohort.
Young people heading to university for the first time are seven times more likely to develop meningitis, particularly those living in shared accommodation, with shared social and catering facilities and close mixing.
Wales’ initial injection rollout began in July and came as a precautionary measure following an outbreak at a University in Kent. Students this week will start getting their “vital” second dose which gives full protection.
Nerys Evans, the Deputy Minister for Public and Preventative Health, says that the government is considering a long-term rollout of Meningitis vaccines. During a visit to a Health and Wellbeing Hub in Cardiff this week she explained that “we are considering what we do next and whether this is a longer-term plan”, insisting that the priority was to “get young people through the door” this year “to get the protection they need”.
The minister said that following the success of the first rollout she felt it was “vital that everyone who is eligible comes forward for their vaccination and, just as importantly, makes sure they receive their second dose”.
One vaccine recipient said that before seeing outbreaks of meningitis in the news last year he “hadn’t really had an idea about what it was” but seeing those stories made him feel as though he’d “better protect himself against the potential threat”. Another added that he got the jab as he “didn’t want to take the risk” of getting the disease at university.
Although rare, Meningitis B is a very serious bacterial infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis group B bacteria. It causes inflammation of protective membranes around the brain and spinal cord (meningitis) and blood poisoning (septicemia). The illness can progress fast and become life-threatening within 24 hours.