New Meningitis inoculations are available for students going to college in September

[Katymac]

There are new Meningitis inoculations which all students going away to college need to get

If you are 18 you will get called in for it - but if you are 16 or 17 you might have to ask at your surgery.

DD got hers last year but there is a new one out this year so I don't know if she needs a top-up

 

 

 

Not really doing Dance - but fairly important

[Jan McNulty]

19-24 year old students are also eligible but need to apply.

 

Thanks for reminding everyone Katymac.

[Anna C]

Thanks Katymac - I saw a BBC post about this yesterday. Dd won't get summoned as she's only 16 but I'll ask at the surgery.

[aileen]

I wonder why this inoculation is not being offered routinely at schools, colleges and universities as this is a very efficient way of ensuring a high take-up. I anticipate that a lot of teenagers and young people won't get around to making appointment with their surgery, particularly if they are living away from home.

[Ellie]

There are new Meningitis inoculations which all students going away to college need to get

 

If you are 18 you will get called in for it - but if you are 16 or 17 you might have to ask at your surgery.

 

DD got hers last year but there is a new one out this year so I don't know if she needs a top-up

 

 

 

Not really doing Dance - but fairly important

I was wondering the same thing Katymac. DS had his last year when he was 18 and off to uni. Will have to ask if he needs a top-up. 

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I think they will be heavily publicised at universities during freshers week when students are also encouraged to register at local doctors.

 

But many balletcoers children go off to college before the age of 18 hence why it's important to publicise this.

[Katymac]

It's a new one this year so will be offered to yr13 routinely

 

Older children need to get a top up (I have since been told) because of the extra strains being inoculated against & it is being added to the teen vaccines (at about 13) so when they get to 18 they won't need it again (iyswim)

 

But it's when teens live together that it really spreads plus they are less likely to get early treatments away from home

[Picturesinthefirelight]

It's a new one this year so will be offered to yr13 routinely

 

Older children need to get a top up (I have since been told) because of the extra strains being inoculated against & it is being added to the teen vaccines (at about 13) so when they get to 18 they won't need it again (iyswim)

 

But it's when teens live together that it really spreads plus they are less likely to get early treatments away from home

In which case it really ought to be offered to teens living together at boarding school.

Edited August 2, 2015 by Picturesinthefirelight

[Katymac]

It was introduced either last year or the year before and was offered at both 18 (yr13) & the younger teens started getting it too in yrs 9 & 10 depeding on when your Health Authority plan i.

 

the idea is that by the time those children get to 18 they will all have been done already

 

I imagine boarding schools are probably a little more hygiene conscious that halls of residence & student accommodation.....at least I sure hope they are 

[taxi4ballet]

I thought I would go and ask about this at our local doctor's surgery. The receptionist was somewhat unhelpful and said absolutely not - dd can't have it. Since her birth date doesn't fall in the right range, she's not allowed to have the jab. I tried to explain that she would be living in student accommodation with many others, and maybe although 16 she would probably need protecting against Meningitis just the same as if she was 17 and living in the same place. I also said that the powers-that-be presumably hadn't considered the needs of 16-year-old ballet dancers leaving home when deciding on the age range for the jab, and that maybe exceptions could be made in certain cases.

 

She still refused, so I respectfully pointed out that perhaps this should be a decision taken by a doctor rather than a receptionist, so could I please make an appointment for dd to see a doctor. After a long pause (in which she was clearly deciding whether or not she could refuse to give her an appointment) she finally relented, so we will see what the doctor says!

[Guest]

taxi4ballet, the Men ACWY vaccine is being extended to 14-18 year olds from Jan 2016 according to a recent news article. So hopefully your GP will be sympathetic to bringing forward the date by a few months. Good luck!

[Katymac]

I rang today - absolutely no problem & can we book her in for her flu jab too (in October); the nurse has messaged all the practise nurses to remind them if they hear of a teen going early to grab them for vaccination & thanks for reminding them about DD but she would have come up on the system as she had it last year.

 

I do wish services were a bit less postcode based; sorry Taxi

 

(edited as I can't spell)

Edited August 3, 2015 by Katymac

[Marika]

My daughter was unfortunate to contract meningitis whilest abroad at the ballet school last year. Very scary experience, but luckily treated early and fully recovered. I insisted for her to receive an immunisation before she goes away again in Sept as there are no guarantees she is immune and won't get it again. After a discussion with her doctor who insisted she is not in any higher risk than anyone else, I decided to pay for it myself. It cost around £30 but I think it's definitely worth it for a piece of mind. She is 17 and there was no mention of it being offered for free in the near future. Her sister is 18 and had one as well and we had to pay for her too.

[Jan McNulty]

I thought I would go and ask about this at our local doctor's surgery. The receptionist was somewhat unhelpful and said absolutely not - dd can't have it. Since her birth date doesn't fall in the right range, she's not allowed to have the jab. I tried to explain that she would be living in student accommodation with many others, and maybe although 16 she would probably need protecting against Meningitis just the same as if she was 17 and living in the same place. I also said that the powers-that-be presumably hadn't considered the needs of 16-year-old ballet dancers leaving home when deciding on the age range for the jab, and that maybe exceptions could be made in certain cases.

 

She still refused, so I respectfully pointed out that perhaps this should be a decision taken by a doctor rather than a receptionist, so could I please make an appointment for dd to see a doctor. After a long pause (in which she was clearly deciding whether or not she could refuse to give her an appointment) she finally relented, so we will see what the doctor says!

 

That's disgraceful Taxi!  I hope you get your DD sorted.

 

Should all children at boarding schools have the jab?

[Katymac]

I think it suggests it is spread by body fluids/saliva (so sharing glasses/bottles/cigarettes & kissing) so possibly not for younger boarding school

 

& yr9/10 are on the list for inoculations anyway

[Guest]

Insist and persist parents!

 

The new Men ACWY vaccine is replacing the existing meningitis booster for yr 9 and 10. The young people who will have to play catch up are the yr 11 and 12 . But according to the NHS all young people between 13-18 are scheduled to receive it http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/Pages/vaccination-schedule-age-checklist.aspx

[suzysue]

Boring nursey info alert! Immunisations are usually given on a PHD which is like a group prescription for anyone who fits the criteria. So if the PGD reads "date of birth between x and y" then those are the only patients the nurse can administer the vaccine to. It's not worth her career to do any different. The GP can prescribe and administer outside of this if she wants to. So see the doctor if your child is younger. Hth!

[taxi4ballet]

It looks to me like 16-year-olds who are going into training kind of fall through the net a bit here. They aren't 17/18, nor are they 19-25 who can also request it if they are going into 1st year uni. If they have already left school then they won't be picked up on the next round for 14+ which starts early next year for schools, and they aren't in the right age group to have it now.

 

Hoping that our doctor sees sense, and I will be interested to hear from others with 16-year-old dancers who also ask if their dc's can have the jab.

 

There must be quite a few, including all the ones going to performing arts colleges like Laine's/ Urdang etc as well.

[Skinted]

We fall into this 16 year old category too. I contacted our family gp practice today as our dd has the added complication of being between gp practices with having just finished at one lower school and moving on to a different upper school come Sept. I'll wait to see what happens... The receptionist asked if I wanted her added to the nurse's list for the immunisations and I said yes. Before she started lower school the practice wanted to charge us £120 for her medical so I'm not overly hopeful however!

[Anon2]

Public health England's press release yesterday might help you with your chat with GP especially the paragraph below

 

' if you are planning to go to university or college, you should be vaccinated before the start of the academic term or before leaving home for university or college (ideally 2 weeks in advance). Please make an appointment with your GP as soon as possible when the vaccine is offered'

 

The article is on the home page of Public Health England.

[taxi4ballet]

Thanks Jane, I shall make a note of that!

[Anon2]

I couldn't post the link but the whole article is worth a read.

[Katymac]

It's situations like this that make me so grateful for our fabulous surgery

 

Last year (Oct/Nov) Dd was very poorly & the GP she was registered with kept saying "it isn't a chest infection so she can't have antibiotics" - 3 weeks later she was so ill with a chest infection & asthma it was unreal I brought her home and registered her as a 'visitor' & she was immediately on antibiotics & steroids narrowly missing an admission to hospital.

 

So our home surgery have agreed to keep her registered there, despite her living away & they will prescribe as soon as she gets a cough - they say they have to be so protective of asthmatics chests & more so in her case (because of her dad's medical history)

 

The sad thing is that I went with DD to the initial appointment when she registered by the college & also took her to that GP when she was ill (twice) - each time I explained her medical history & each time it was ignored.

 

Edited to add - sorry off topic

Edited August 4, 2015 by Katymac

[John Mallinson]

I couldn't post the link but the whole article is worth a read.

 

Link

[Fiz]

Off topic also but it is worth checking out local GP surgeries. The one on our uni campus was bog standard but the one my daughter used at hers is excellent. Shop around!

[JulieW]

Can someone please fill me in - in case I've missed it - as to why they're only vaccinating those in that age range going to university this year for the first time - what about those going back to uni? They had a different vaccination last year didn't they, so won't be covered.

[Anon2]

Can someone please fill me in - in case I've missed it - as to why they're only vaccinating those in that age range going to university this year for the first time - what about those going back to uni? They had a different vaccination last year didn't they, so won't be covered.

Especially as one of the stories is about a second year who contracted it. I've a GP appointment next week to ask about this but suspect if out of target group it might be a private immunisation.

[sblick]

Just rang my GP about my son (happens to be in wheelchair) who was 19 in June but starting Uni for first year in Sep but apparently they calling all 1st year who have just turned 18 but explained he is going a year later and they said they only doing 1st years but he s going to be a first year! Told to ring next week!

[Anna C]

I've just had a phone chat with one of our Practice Nurses. She said that if dd had her Men C/Diptheria/Tetanus booster in Year 10 (which I think she did; it was HPV in Year 9), she will phone Child Health Services to check if 16 yr olds can have it or not. When I asked why they may say no, she said they may want a 3-4 year gap before giving another Meningitis vaccine (as the new one still includes Men C). Obviously Year 13s who had a booster at 14 will have had the correct interval; 16 year olds will not.

 

If Child Health say no, the gap between Men C jabs has to be 3-4 years, I wonder if it is possible to just have the Men W jab - possibly not.

[Guest]

Men ACWY is a fixed combination vaccine, so its all or nothing. If you look up Men ACWY on the NHS website it will take you  to the patient information leaflet (the leaflet that you get with a prescription medicine). There are two versions of the vaccine, Nimerix and Menveo. The leaflets contain a lot of useful information so worth a look.

[Ellie]

I've just had a phone chat with one of our Practice Nurses. She said that if dd had her Men C/Diptheria/Tetanus booster in Year 10 (which I think she did; it was HPV in Year 9), she will phone Child Health Services to check if 16 yr olds can have it or not. When I asked why they may say no, she said they may want a 3-4 year gap before giving another Meningitis vaccine (as the new one still includes Men C). Obviously Year 13s who had a booster at 14 will have had the correct interval; 16 year olds will not.

 

If Child Health say no, the gap between Men C jabs has to be 3-4 years, I wonder if it is possible to just have the Men W jab - possibly not.

That's my query. DS had his Men C jab last year before going into his 1st year at Uni - we don't live in the UK and it's not on inoculation schedule here for his age, but he's at Uni in the UK - so we had to get a letter from Uni and have the jab done privately. Not sure what to do.

[taxi4ballet]

I read somewhere (can't remember where though!) that this new vaccine can be given to people who have already had the Men C one, and it is important that they do, as it protects against a newer more virulent strain. 

[Anna C]

I read somewhere (can't remember where though!) that this new vaccine can be given to people who have already had the Men C one, and it is important that they do, as it protects against a newer more virulent strain.

 

Ah, thanks Taxi. I'll mention that to the Nurse when she phones. :-)