Health Secretary: “This is an unprecedented outbreak.”
Wes Streeting tells MPs: “It is also a rapidly developing situation.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has given a statement in the House of Commons about the outbreak of meningitis in Kent.
He told MPs “This is an unprecedented outbreak. It is also a rapidly developing situation.”
He said the menB vaccine has been available on the NHS since 2015 as part of routine childhood immunisations, “but clearly most students would not be vaccinated”.
He added: “Given the severity of the situation, I can confirm to the House that we will begin a targeted vaccination programme for students living in halls of residence at the University of Kent in Canterbury, which will begin in the coming days.”
The programme may also expand further if other groups are deemed to be at risk.
Mr Streeting told the Commons his thoughts were “with the families and friends of those two young people who’ve sadly died”, adding: “I cannot begin to understand what they must be going through.”
He said he had asked the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to “re-examine eligibility for meningitis vaccines” for a wider group of people after it ruled an menB catch-up campaign for older children was not cost-effective.
The Health Secretary also told MPs he was “confident” that the UKHSA acted as “quickly and comprehensively as possible” in its response to the outbreak of meningitis, after criticism that it was too slow to act and inform the public.
Mr Streeting also set out:
– The cases “link back” to the Club Chemistry nightclub over the dates of March 5-7.
– The UKHSA was notified about the first case on Friday, March 13, and began tracing contacts and offering antibiotics “as a matter of urgency”.
– On Saturday, the UKHSA was in touch with the University of Kent “to ensure they had the necessary support, advice, and guidance, and to establish where the patient was living.”
– Also on Saturday, French authorities alerted the UKHSA to a second confirmed case in France in a person who had attended the University of Kent. Both people lived in private accommodation, “and at that stage, there was no apparent link between the two”, Mr Streeting said.
– At 7pm on Saturday, hospitals locally reported that a number of “severely unwell young adults” were presenting with symptoms of meningitis. Contact tracing of those people “began immediately” and continued into Sunday morning.
– At 10am on Sunday, the UKHSA “stood up a full-scale response” and a public health alert was issued at 6pm.
Mr Streeting said even before the alert was issued, students and young people, who had been in close contact with suspected cases were being offered antibiotics.
“This is precisely what one would expect as a rapid response, and I’m confident UKHSA acted as quickly and as comprehensively as possible,” he said.
However, he said the overall UKHSA response would be looked at in detail “because inevitably there are always things that we can learn”.
There are four centres open in Canterbury offering antibiotics, with 11,000 doses available on site, Mr Streeting told MPs.
“The onset of illness is often sudden, and early diagnosis and treatment with antibiotics are vital,” he said.