Meningitis vaccination programme prompts needless scare

On 27 August The Observer newspaper in the UK published no less than four articles on allegedly serious dangers associated with the serogroup C meningococcal conjugate vaccine, introduced for routine use in this country about a year ago. First, a page one banner headline (“Meningitis jab deaths ‘cover-up’’’) heralded a report that at least 11 young people had died after receiving the new vaccine. The British Department of Health had chosen not to publicise the fatalities ‘for fear of panicking parents’. An even longer inside-page article added disquieting information about 16,000 adverse reactions, and described their human impact. “He was a young man with everything to look forward to,” said one victim’s mother. “This has affected his whole life.” Underlining the apparent importance of the revelations, an editorial said: “The Department of Health believes that reactions to the new meningitis vaccination could have killed 11 schoolchildren, but has decided on a cover-up.” But there was also a fourth, shorter piece, this one by The Observer’s science editor, Robin McKie. Pointing out that meningitis C “remains one of the most feared killers in this country”, he discussed the different strains of meningococci, the difficulties facing immunisation efforts and the merits of the new jab. “Since its introduction last year, 13 million samples...have been administered, resulting in a 75% drop in cases of meningitis C throughout the country,” McKie wrote. “By inference, that translates as the saving of more than 100 lives.” The following day, Daily Mail readers were probably even more perplexed. In one and the same article, they were not only told about the deaths, adverse reactions and ‘horror stories’ from the lobby group Justice Awareness Basic Support (JABS). They also learned that the Department of Health had categorically ruled out any links between the fatalities and the vaccine, which had been extremely successful in preventing the disease. It was left to the health editor of The Times, Nigel Hawkes, to make several crucial points. Firstly, the vaccine could not cause meningitis anyway because it does not contain live virus. Secondly, there were bound to be some reactions among 13 million vaccinees, as well as deaths following — but unrelated to — immunisation.