Gateshead dad takes meningitis B campaign to parliament
A Gateshead dad is taking his meningitis B vaccine campaign to parliament today.
A Gateshead dad is taking his meningitis B vaccine campaign to parliament today.
Lee Booth set up a petition for all children under 11 to be vaccinated on the NHS after his daughter was deemed too old to have the jab.
It has so far reached a record breaking 823,000 signatures, but earlier this month the government said that vaccinating all children, not just new-borns, wouldn’t be cost effective for the NHS,
They currently provide the jabs in three doses for babies at two months, four months and 12 months old. So parents who want to vaccinate older children must do so privately, reaching hundreds of pounds per child.
Lee will attend an evidence session in parliament today, along with Jenny and Neil Burdett who lost their daughter Faye to meningitis B on Valentine’s Day.
Lee said:
“What price can you put on saving a child's life? What do we deem cost-effective to save a child?”
“The cost to the taxpayer to look after somebody that has survived meningitis runs into millions of pounds. Specialist care, often prosthetics, they’re left brain damaged… there’s so many things that the vaccine could pay for itself relatively quickly.”
“It scares the living day lights out of you that your children might be affected by meningitis. It happens so quickly and if there is a vaccine there that can help prevent that then I think we should use it.”
“I’ve got two children so you’re looking in the region to £700-800 to get the children done, for most parents that’s probably out of reach.”
A Department of Health spokesman said:
“MenB is a terrible disease that can be devastating for families. This is why we looked so carefully at the evidence for a free vaccination programme for infants and why in 2015 became the first - and to date only - country in the world to introduce this programme.”
“We understand people's concerns and all vaccination programmes are kept under constant review, but we have to be guided by the very best scientific advice and we will continue to protect the children who are most at risk.''
View the petition here: