North East fight for Meningitis B vaccine
A Tynemouth mam who almost lost her son to meningitis says ALL children must be vaccinated as a matter of urgency.
Natalie Baldwin told Metro Radio her one year old Jenson beat meningitis-B last May. He spent a week fighting for his life after Natalie took him to the doctors with a runny nose.
Natalie said:
“It’s awful, you don’t want to see your child lying there with tubes. The trauma is unbearable.”
"There was about four nurses and three doctors within 15 minutes all hanging around him. The doctor that saved his life came up to me, he said he’s a very very poorly baby.”
Natalie is backing a petition for all children to be vaccinated for the virus, following the death of a two-year-old girl. Faye Burdett, from Maidstone, died on Valentine's Day after fighting the infection for 11 days. Her story has been widely shared on social media.
Faye’s family said they are suffering "a pain you cannot describe", and want a meningitis B vaccination for all children, up to the age of 11, to be rolled-out.
"We campaign for change in her memory," her mother Jenny said.
Currently, the NHS provides a vaccination in three doses for babies at two months, four months and 12-months-old. Parents who wish to vaccinate older children must do so privately.
Lee Booth, a dad from Gateshead, set up a petition last year, it’s now reached over 325,000 signitures and will be considered for debate in parliament.
Lee said:
“Hopefully they’ll take notice and do something about it so that children outside of the age group get immunised against this horrible virus.”
“When I realised that my own kids weren’t going to get the vaccination I thought this isn’t right and I decided to do something about it.”
You can view the petition here:
Find out more information about Meningitis B here: