Why is the NHS vaccination for meningitis B not provided to everyone? | Jenny Rohn

The NHS can't afford to protect everyone from this rare but often fatal bug: babies over six months miss out. Here's what you need to know if your child is not eligible for the vaccine

Bacterial meningitis is the worst nightmare of every parent roused by a screaming child at three in the morning. And with good reason: although relatively rare, affecting about 3,200 people in the UK each year, it kills one in ten of those infected. Although it can kill at any age, babies are the most common victim.

So it's great news that the NHS will start offering a vaccine against meningitis B this month to all babies in England, Scotland and Wales born after June 2015 (Northern Ireland may soon follow suit). And there will be a one-off catch-up for any baby born after March 2015 who will have missed the first jab in the series. Particularly vulnerable people, such as the immunocompromised, can already get the jab on the NHS.