British health officials announced Friday they will provide meningococcal B disease protection to thousands of students through a special vaccination initiative, responding to what authorities called the nation’s most severe outbreak of the illness recorded this year.
The March outbreak in Kent, located in southeastern England, resulted in two fatalities and represented the most extensive and rapidly spreading MenB incident British health officials have documented.
Health authorities reported Friday that this year has seen an unusually high number of disease clusters, with each outbreak proving larger than anticipated.
The emergency vaccination effort beginning this summer aims to shield individuals facing the greatest immediate danger from the illness while officials evaluate new data to decide if additional vaccine distribution measures are necessary.
The two-shot program will focus on all Year 13 students (ages 17-18) throughout England, plus individuals under 25 who will be entering university or residential continuing education programs for the first time this fall.
Officials designed the initiative specifically to safeguard students beginning their university experience this autumn.
Students face disproportionate MenB risk because the disease spreads more easily through the close and extended contact typical in dormitory living situations and social gatherings.
While British teenagers currently do not receive routine meningitis B vaccinations like their counterparts in numerous other nations, the country has provided infant vaccination against the disease since 2015.
