Meningitis W vaccination

[ToadMum]

Years 10 and 11 having theirs this week at DD2's indie. DD1 (1st year uni/Y14) had hers having been called up by GP. DD2 (Y12) has heard nothing either way grr. Made for some very interesting conversations when the girl in the room next to DD1 at uni got Meng W, having told everyone it was unnecessary to have the jab as it was so rare. The irony (and annoyance) of her free riding on everyone else was lost on her of course. She appeared to have thought the jab was to protect her, rather than the herd. Don't get me started. DD2 was due to go and spend the weekend with DD1 and we had already bought train tickets. Wish I could charge her

So, it seems Ys 12 and 13 are not getting it yet but might...when?

Don't get me started on that subject, either. Fortunately, ours have (at least so far) listened, marked and inwardly digested our views on immunisation - when DS1 was sent an appointment to have his pre-school booster on his 4th birthday, he actually said that he didn't mind (I did postpone it to the next session, though) and DD knows that she will get little sympathy from us if she decides to act like a Popular and come over all girly about the jabs they have at school. (Or come over all like a strapping great Sergeant, my mum would probably have said, after one swooned in front of her when they were waiting to have theirs to go out to Singapore back in the fifties ).

There are enough kids who genuinely cannot have certain immunisations for medical reasons, who are forced to rely on the rest of us for protection, without freeloaders getting in on the act.

Sorry, second rant of the day; it must be the weather...

[Y]

I spoke to the nurse in our GP surgery. Apparently, they believe the Year 13s will be eligible from April 1st, they will receive a letter, and will be expected to present at their surgery. But she hadn't had this confirmed yet.

[doodles]

What about current year 12? Will DS be called up by the surgery?

[Kit]

Without wanting to derail the thread, can anyone summarise the different types of meningitis and relevant vaccinations and when will/ should have been done? I'm not sure my DC have had the correct vaccinations yet.

What happened to meningitis C, I think my 2nd year uni DC had that one but Yr13 DD hasn't?

Edited: I found this:

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Meningitis ... ntion.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But it seems to have missed out Yr12 students for some reason.

[ToadMum]

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vaccinatio ... ccine.aspx

The new 'ACWY' vaccine replaces the Men C in the Teenage Booster package. You can check the whole current immunisation schedule on the site. I have a vague memory that there was something that DS1 (now first year undergrad) was just too old to be offered when it was 'new', but I can't remember which it was.

[Tinkers]

DD is in year 9 and had polio/tetanus/diphtheria along with meningitis ACWY a couple of months ago. Trade names revaxis and nimenrix respectively if that info helps anyone.

[Amber]

I have a printout of my Y12 son's complete vaccination history in front of me. Wrt to meningitis he had -

Men C when he was about 18 months old
Meningitec MEN6 (Men C) as single dose when he was 14
Booster of same when he was 15

He would be due the Men ACWY in Y13 but has had it already as he is travelling to somewhere where he needs it. Apparently Y10 and 11 students will be given that before the Y12s.

[ToadMum]

I assume that the rationale behind this is that it's easy enough to put it into the existing year 10 schedule (year 9 from next year, one supposes, which actually makes more sense as it would be ten years after the pre school booster, rather than eleven as at present) and the year 13s are strongly advised to get the meningitis vaccine before going to university, but in theory, year 12 aren't going anywhere and so can wait to catch up next year.

[ToadMum]

On a rather sad note, earlier today DS2's school sent out a message to inform parents that a sixth former at a neighbouring school has died of meningitis.

[PurpleDuck]

I have a printout of my Y12 son's complete vaccination history in front of me. Wrt to meningitis he had -
Men C when he was about 18 months old
Meningitec MEN6 (Men C) as single dose when he was 14
Booster of same when he was 15

DS had Men C only at 2, 3 and 4 months and then the Men ACWY recently. He didn't have any boosters for Men C as a toddler and I hope it doesn't matter if he has had the ACWY now.

There is also a new Men B vaccination, given to babies since last September - will teenagers have a chance to have it at some point, too? Will they need it?

I have also noticed on NHS website that there is a Pneumococcal (PCV) vaccine for babies which must be relatively new - does anyone know whether it can be given to older children and whether it would be useful for them?

It's really sad news about the pupil who died from meningitis; I wonder whether it's the one for which they hadn't had a chance to get vaccinated yet . Hopefully, the more children get vaccinated, the rarer such cases will become...