Meningitis: Vaccination
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the findings and recommendations of the JCVI’s review of meningococcal B vaccination policy for adolescents and young adults.
Answered by Mrs Sharon Hodgson
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an expert scientific advisory committee that advises the Government on eligibility for vaccination and immunisation programmes. The JCVI has been consulted on the immediate vaccine response to the outbreak and clinical effectiveness of potential future outbreak response vaccination strategies.
The JCVI holds three committee meetings a year, usually on the first Wednesday of February, June and October. The draft minutes of each meeting will be published within six weeks of the meeting. In some circumstances, when the frequency of meetings is increased, it may not be possible to upload meeting minutes within six weeks.
On 17 March, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, also announced to the House of Commons that the JCVI has been asked to re-examine eligibility for meningitis vaccines to assess, for example, an expanded offer to older children and/or young adults. The JCVI will provide updated advice to the Department this summer around whether, and to what extent, a vaccine programme for older children and/or young adults would be clinically effective as well as an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of such a vaccination programme.
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