Teenage meningitis vaccine helps protect all age groups
A University of Oxford study supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network South London has found giving a meningitis vaccine to 14 to 19-year-olds helps protect all ages.
The vaccine was given to teenagers aged 14 to 19, as the transmission of the meningococcal bacteria is known to be highest in this age group and could generate herd protection or herd immunity.
Researchers found the vaccine substantially reduced carriage of the W and Y meningococcal groups, which cause the disease, and sustained low levels of the C group.
Findings have been published in the Clinical Microbiology and Infection Journal.
Researchers took throat swabs and assessed the prevalence of meningitis-causing bacteria before and after the introduction of the vaccination programme, in two studies conducted almost four years apart.
More than 24,000 teenagers took part, including more than 1,100 in south London.
The Be on the TEAM study’s Principal Investigator at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Professor Paul Heath said:
“The team at St George’s Vaccine Institute are proud to have collaborated closely with our local schools in undertaking this important study. The results are very clear, and I hope this leads to even better uptake of the meningococcal vaccine in the teenage population, which benefits them as well as the wider community.”
In 2015, responding to rising rates of meningitis cases driven by the W and Y strains from 2009 onwards, the UK replaced a vaccine targeting only the C group, introduced in 1999, with vaccines for the A, C, W and Y strains, known as MenACWY.
The researchers compared two studies, the UKMenCar4 study, conducted from September 2014 to March 2015 before the MenACWY vaccine was introduced, and the Be on the TEAM study, conducted from March 2018 to November 2018 after the vaccine was introduced.
The findings align with data from the UK showing the incidence of MenW disease has fallen in all age groups since the teenage MenACWY vaccine campaign.
Researchers added that taken together, this data provides strong evidence for the need to target age groups with high rates of meningococcal transmission to make the most effective use of these vaccines, and not necessarily immunising other age groups at high risk.
For more information, visit the University of Oxford's website.
