Team Blitz India
LONDON: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and leading meningitis charities are urging students to make sure they have been vaccinated against meningitis and other diseases before the start of the academic year.
“Every year we see new and returning students get seriously ill, with some tragically dying, from what are preventable diseases. With large numbers of students coming together from around the country and overseas for the first time, and closely mixing, infection can spread easily,” stated Dr Shamez Ladhani, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA. The NHS MenACWY immunisation programme for schools is offered to all pupils between 9 and 10 years of age.
UKHSA vaccine coverage data shows around one in eight new students going to college and university this year remain unprotected against the four strains of meningococcal bacteria, each of which can cause long- term disability, serious health complications and can be life threatening.
The latest (2021 to 2022) MenACWY coverage data shows that vaccination rate has fallen to 79.6 per cent, which means that the figure will rise to around one in five pupils being unprotected when they start college or university in a few years’ time if they don’t catch up with their vaccinations.
All first-year students starting college or university this September and returning students who are not up to date with all their childhood and adolescent vaccines are at increased risk of serious diseases such as meningitis, septicaemia, and measles as they mix with large numbers of other students from around the country and overseas, added the UKHSA statement.
Meningitis and septicaemia can develop suddenly. Symptoms include a blotchy rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it, fever, headache, aching muscles and joints, and a stiff neck, it added.
The MenW strain can also cause vomiting and diarrhoea in teenagers and young adults. Urgent antibiotic treatment and hospitalisation is critical, UKHSA advised.
