Number of babies in Salford vaccinated against Meningitis B is lowest in England

The number of babies in Salford vaccinated against Meningitis B is the lowest in England - despite thousands of parents paying for it privately because the government refused to make it widely available on the NHS.

The new vaccine was introduced in September last year, and the first dose is given to babies aged two months old.

In April families reacted with anger after the government rejected calls to roll out the programme to all children, at least up to the age of 11.

MPs discussed the issue in parliament in a debate sparked by a 823,000-signature petition which started after the mother of toddler Faye Burdett shared pictures of her daughter in hospital, where she died of Meningitis B.

But new figures show that babies in Salford are now potentially the most at risk from Meningitis B because they are least likely to be vaccinated against it.

Only 61.4 per cent of infants aged six months old had been given their first two shots of the vaccine in April, M.E.N. analysis of the latest Public Health England figures shows.

This was the lowest rate in England.

Babies in other parts of Greater Manchester are also poorly protected against the disease, which kills about one in 10 of infected people.

Parents paying privately for the jab had been struggling to find a place with any of the vaccines available due to a global shortage. Those clinics that did have it, had just limited stock and some put their prices up - to around £150 per jab - to reflect the cost of importing the jabs.

Last month we reported how GlaxoSmithKline, which has produced the vaccine globally since acquiring the licence in December 2013, was sending out fresh stock to private clinics.

Boots is understood to be the cheapest place to get the vaccine - at £95 a dose - and today it issued an update to customers saying that stock is expected ‘in the next few weeks’ and it is increasing the number of stores that offer the service nationwide.

The figures show that in central Manchester the coverage rate was 79.6 per cent for both doses.

One in five babies in south and north Manchester weren’t vaccinated.

In England more widely the take-up rate was 87.9 per cent for both doses in April.

The groups of bacteria that make up Meningitis B cause about 90 per cent of the UK’s meningococcal infections.

After the petition was debated in parliament, the government’s response was that widespread vaccination would not be the best use of public money.

Babies are given a booster shot at around one year of age.

CCG	Coverage rate (%)
NHS Trafford	93.3
NHS Wigan Borough	90.4
NHS Heywood, Middleton And Rochdale	89.8
NHS Tameside And Glossop	89.1
NHS Stockport	88.4
NHS Oldham	85.9
NHS Bolton	83.5
NHS North Manchester	80.1
NHS South Manchester	80
NHS Central Manchester	79.6
NHS Bury	71.3
NHS Salford	61.4