Meningitis B latest: Dozens of Kent students queuing for vaccine turned away as tally of cases rises – UK Times

So far more than 8,500 antibiotics and 1,600 vaccines have been now given to eligible people in Kent amid the meningitis outbreak.

The UK Health Security Agency says 20,000 vaccines from the NHS supply will be made available to the private market to ease the demand at pharmacies from people who want to pay for a jab. Some pharmacies say supplies have run low.

Most people already vaccinated were inoculated against MenACWY strains, not the MenB strain.

Health secretary Wes Streeting said young people should be cautious about sharing vapes, but added he was not the “fun police”.

He said that as a “rule of thumb” it is “not hygienic to share things like vapes around your mates”.

Mr Streeting told told BBC Newsbeat : “It’s absolutely fine for people to go about living their lives in a normal way and there is no reason for me to be the fun police today and tell students across the country that they shouldn’t be going out this weekend and doing the things that they would normally do in a nightclub.”

Professor Robin May, UKHSA chief scientific officer, said this was a very unusual outbreak and that experts were looking at why meningitis in these cases may have become more transmissible.

Prof May told the BBC: “Typically, you would expect to see sporadic cases of meningitis, typically individual patients. Most days, actually, we would see one in the UK.

“What is particularly remarkable about this case, and unexpected about this case, is the large number of cases all originating from what seems to be a single event.

“There are two possible reasons for that. One is that there might be something about the kind of behaviour that individual people are doing.

“The other possibility is the bacteria itself may have evolved to be better at transmitting.”

Prof May said the bacteria can be transmitted by sharing utensils, cups and vapes.

More vaccination centres are opening across Kent on Friday following an expansion of the government’s meningitis immunisation programme.

One facility, at Faversham Health Centre, will begin administering jabs at 9am on Friday and will remain open on Saturday.

Other clinics are also scheduled to open at the Vicarage Lane Clinic in Ashford and at the University of Kent, NHS England has said.

The Gate Clinic at Kent and Canterbury Hospital will be open throughout the weekend for walk-ins.

Vaccinations are now available to anyone who attended the Club Chemistry venue from 5 March to 15 March, year 12 and 13 pupils at affected schools, students and staff at the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church university, and close contacts of confirmed or suspected cases.

More than 100 students in Kent queuing for a vaccine were turned away.

The University of Kent said it had closed the queue on its Canterbury campus “due to capacity” because it needed to finish the clinic by 5pm.

The university wrote on Facebook: “The queue has been closed as nursing staff are unable to see any more people within the clinic’s remaining opening hours today.

“The team have been working incredibly hard to vaccinate as many people as possible.”

The university said the vaccination clinic would reopen on Friday from 9am to 5pm, and advised people to be in the queue by 2pm.

At 4.10pm on Thursday, students trying to join the queue were turned away by security staff.

It is understood staff wanted to vaccinate the final person at 4.30pm to allow for the necessary 15-minute observation period for immediate side-effects.

Health secretary Wes Streeting visited the vaccination centre at the University of Kent, and talked to nurses, where he said the outbreak of meningitis was not like Covid, and the risk to the general public was extremely low.

He announced that sixth-formers at four schools where there are known or suspected cases will now be offered the vaccine.

“These are proportionate steps to help us contain spread and we’re keeping that situation under review,” he said.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has pledged that more people affected by the meningitis outbreak in Kent will be given vaccines.

Mr Streeting said more would get protection against meningitis B, which has been the strain affecting those who fell ill after visiting Club Chemistry in Canterbury.

He said anyone who attended the club from 5 March until it closed on 15 March would be offered the jab, alongside sixth-formers at four schools and more university students in Canterbury.

Currently, nine of the 15 confirmed cases are known to be caused by menB.

On a visit to the University of Kent, Mr Streeting said: “We are now encouraging anyone who attended Club Chemistry from 5 March until it voluntarily closed to come forward for both antibiotics and vaccination.

“Furthermore, we’re expanding vaccination to anyone who’s previously been offered the prophylactic antibiotic.

“That will include a large number of students here at the University of Kent.

“And it will include some students at Canterbury Christchurch University.

“It will also include sixth-formers at four schools where there are known or suspected cases.

“These are proportionate steps to help us contain spread and we’re keeping that situation under review.”

Mr Streeting said the outbreak was not like Covid and that the risk to the general public was extremely low.