Introduction of the Prevenar13 vaccine

It’s always good to hear that parents are making sure their children are vaccinated against meningitis and other severe diseases within the childhood immunisation schedule.

The routine vaccinations protect against several different kinds of meningitis. I’m very sorry to hear that despite your best efforts, your son got pneumococcal meningitis, and I hope he has made a good recovery.

If you haven’t already done so, you might want to contact MRF’s Helpline on 0808003344 (freephone) – they can talk to you about any problems that might be due to the meningitis, or put you in touch with a befriender with similar experience.

When the old Prevenar vaccine was introduced it covered most disease-causing strains in children, but since then new strains have become more common, which is why we needed Prevenar13. However, when a new vaccine is introduced it is (almost) never possible to offer it to the whole population. There has to be a cut-off somewhere, and the Department of Health’s expert advisers take many different factors into consideration when deciding who should get the vaccine. One of the main factors is age, since young babies run the highest risk. This is one reason why the childhood immunisation schedule is timed to administer vaccines as early as possible (starting at two months of age), then boosted after the child’s first birthday to provide long lasting protection.

Another consideration is health conditions that put people more at risk from infection. There are known risk factors that increase vulnerability to pneumococcal meningitis and people with these risk factors are entitled to pneumococcal vaccination.

In the current situation, a child with one of these risk factors who has already had the full course of Prevenar is only entitled to Prevenar13 if he/she is under the age of 2. Since your son has had pneumococcal meningitis, he should have been investigated for the presence of risk factors at the time of his illness. He may not be strictly entitled to Prevenar13 since he is over the age of two, but it is still worth talking to your doctor or nurse to check. Some doctors take into consideration the special circumstances of a child who has had pneumococcal meningitis and the distress that causes the family.
Alternatively, if you are determined to get Prevenar13 for your son, it may be possible to get it privately. We know that some quantities of the vaccine are available to be obtained this way.
It is worth bearing in mind that although not everyone in the population is entitled to receive the vaccine, the whole population will benefit from some degree of herd immunity to the additional strains of bacteria in Prevenar13. This is because, those who are vaccinated with Prevenar13 will be unable to carry these bacteria in the back of their nose and throat and therefore the spread of these bacteria will be restricted.

I hope this information is of some help to you,

Best wishes, 

My son passed away last year to Pnuemoccocal meningitis, after receiving the Prevnar-7 vaccine. I am so pleased that this has finally passed, in hopes to save another childs life.

My son who is now 4 1/2 had Pneumococcal Meningitis despite having the Prevenar immunisation so this is great news. Does anyone know whether I should be requesting the new Prevenar 13? All other immunisations are up to date.

Hi
Thanks for giving me this opportunity to contribute in discussion.
First and foremost I'm a Senior Medical Microbiologist working in Malaria Vaccine Drug Trials in Ifakara Research Institute and it would my pleasure to see this Prevenar13 vaccine getting patent into the market.