Anon2 Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 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. Is your son registered with a GP at university? Can he email them for advice? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katymac Posted August 4, 2015 Author Share Posted August 4, 2015 Taxi that is what the practise nurse said to me; even if she had C last year (she did) she HAS to have it again this year even allowing for their over-protectiveness of DD, that was a firm statement 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Thank you all for your advice. Yes, he's registered with a GP in the UK - but usually (from what I've heard) vaccines should be given 2 weeks before they start uni. Will email/call and check. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Just wondering now what the situation would be regarding an 18 year old who will be going to college in September but will still be living at home? Is it primarily for students who will be living with other students? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblick Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Its if you go to university! College students are not getting it yet! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Thanks sblick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Our local Child Health dept have told our Practice Nurse that as dd had the Men C booster in Year 10, she won't be able to have the new booster this Sept because it includes another Men C vaccine as well as the A,W and Y strains. I suppose I have the option of trying to find out whether there is a separate Men W jab available privately - or ask again next Sept when she would be starting Year 13 locally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Our local Child Health dept have told our Practice Nurse that as dd had the Men C booster in Year 10, she won't be able to have the new booster this Sept because it includes another Men C vaccine as well as the A,W and Y strains. I suppose I have the option of trying to find out whether there is a separate Men W jab available privately - or ask again next Sept when she would be starting Year 13 locally. Anna C. I've just received this email....Conflicting information...:/ Many thanks for your email relating to the introduction of Meningitis ACWY immunisation in the forthcoming academic year 2015-16. Without reference to your children I will reply in the generic: New University students up to age 25 will be offered Men ACWY. Year 13 children DOB 01/09/96-31/08/97 will be offered immunisation. Anyone who has already had Men C since age 10 can have Men ACWY. Presently anyone not a fresher will not be eligible for Men ACWY in England although it can be obtained privately. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Thanks Ellie. In the meantime I phoned the Meningitis Research Foundation on their Freephone helpline number and spoke to a very helpful lady who said the same as in your email. Basically, if 16 yr olds are going to be mixing with Uni age students (which dd will) and living away from home in student accommodation, not only are they eligible but they *can and should* have the new vaccine regardless of whether they had a Men C booster at 14. She suggests leaving it for a week or two as the info is only just getting through to GP surgeries, then speaking with the Practice Manager. If I get no joy I suppose I'll have to pay for dd to have it privately but who knows how much that will cost. :-( 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 I hope you don't have to pay but even if you do, it is really worthwhile. x 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Thanks Anna C. That's good to know, I didn't know what to do ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 I know (and I understand as I work in the NHS) that money is tight, but I fail to see how returning uni students are at less risk and therefore not given the vacc!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 No idea, Julie. :-/ Also no idea how and where I get the jab given privately to dd - apparently the ones at pharmacies are for travellers and different to the one for students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 No idea, Julie. :-/ Also no idea how and where I get the jab given privately to dd - apparently the ones at pharmacies are for travellers and different to the one for students. I don't know how it works in the UK, but last year (for MenC) we went to the health centre for a prescription, bought it at the chemist and then went back to health centre for the nurse to give him the jab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBD23 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Very useful thread thanks all. I took dd to a travel clinic today who said she should have ACWY even though had Men C jab last year. Did it on the spot for £60 (ouch!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katymac Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 The surgery has refused point blank & cannot offer a private optionDD is going into a first year of a course at 17 (yr13) & so will be un-inocculated while her contemporaries will have had the vaccineI am not happy Travel clinic? Hmm I'm googling 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon2 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Katymac, what about private GP services in Chelmsford? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katymac Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 bit far - Boots say £70!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon2 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Private immunisations are generally around £65 each so it isn't out of kilter. You could cross fingers and hope for herd immunity to protect dd. I'm not going to rely on it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katymac Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 Nope they won't do it as she isn't travelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katymac Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 Not keeping my fingers crossed - if I do the right thing & something horrible happens I will have to cope; if I chose not to do the right thing and something horrible happens it will forever be my fault Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miracle Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 What a lot of mixed messages. It wouldn't matter if it wasn't so serious.x 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 The surgery has refused point blank & cannot offer a private option DD is going into a first year of a course at 17 (yr13) & so will be un-inocculated while her contemporaries will have had the vaccine I am not happy Travel clinic? Hmm I'm googling Can you try to call the Meningitis Research Foundation (mentioned by Anna C) to see if they can offer some advice ? Or quote the email I received from the health centre in the UK (where they mention that the vac will be available for Yr 13) to see what they say ? Good Luck. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Nope they won't do it as she isn't travelling Can you tell them that she is travelling.....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katymac Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) Yep I did all that Because she did a pre-voc last year she is not a fresher so she can't have the going to uni for the first time one Because she is not 18 she can't have the going to uni one I'll ring the helplines edited to add I am prepared to lie Edited August 10, 2015 by Katymac 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I would do exactly the same thing, KatyMac. Our eldest was in the first cohort for the Meningitis C vaccination. When we rocked up at university on open day, there were notices up everywhere warning against Meningitis C in the university and to get vaccinated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aballetlife Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I've got a leaflet saying anyone aged 16-18 that has left school can get the vaccine from their GP from August. however it's from the Scottish NHS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katymac Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 Yes you can get it if you are in yr 12 or 13 at school - DD isn't Or if you are going to uni (so just finished yr 13) - DD isn't Or if you are under 25 and going into your first year away from home - DD isn't Or if you are going on holiday to sub-saharan Africa - well what a co-incidence DD happens to have been invited to holiday in Zimbabwe (true - we just don't know when) Costing, as I mentioned, £70 Ah well! More money 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeliB Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) I know (and I understand as I work in the NHS) that money is tight, but I fail to see how returning uni students are at less risk and therefore not given the vacc!! Those who have already been at university have already had a huge degree of additional social mixing (a key risk factor) and are therefore considered to be at much lower risk (risk is based on degree of mixing with new people and individual susceptibility to developing severe forms of meningococcism compared to just harmless carriage- which is fairly common in the general population). Because this is a new vaccine program the manufacturers have not yet caught up and supplies are quite limited- hence the delay of the schools program until Jan 2016. The idea is that new freshers are the highest risk group and need to be done before those in lower risk categories. it is most definitely NOT a cost saving issue but an intention to vaccinate according to severity of risk. I think those who have in the past been eligible for the school Men C program but didn't get it for some reason ARE eligible for the new ACWY...but I can check if anyone is desperate to know (however I suspect again freshers will be prioritised) You can definitely be given ACWY even if you have received C any time in the last 10 years, the guidance is explicit on this. re travel vaccines they often use the polysaccharide ACWY instead of the conjugate as it is assumed the protection is not needed to last as long (it doesn't, although info about how long it DOES last is quite difficult to find- it may be quite a few years). But anyway travel vaccines are chargeable (I don't understand the justification for this myself as the cost to the NHS, public health and society of treating travel related vaccine preventable illness must far outweigh vaccine costs....) edited to add-I have just read some advice from the national expert that suggested those attending university for the first time and not in the specified age group could be considered for vaccine locally- the idea is that nationally they can't include all ages due to vaccine stock limitations and not wanting the whole world to rock up and ask for vaccine but it suggests that a conversation between your GP and the local health protection team (PHE) and local NHSE Simms team might lead to a local decision to vaccinate.... Edited August 10, 2015 by CeliB 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katymac Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 CeliB - I kind of get that she is at less risk than a 'true' first year but she will be in a first year with other first years who may or may not have had their injection. I feel (perhaps wrongly) that a mix of true first years ranging in age from 16 to mid 20's, plus ex pre-voc students who may struggle to get the vaccine, plus students who have done their degree and are now doing MT make for a very interesting morass of germs So I'm happy to pay but not happy to send her without it illogical maybe 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeliB Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Katymac, I think if she is starting a new course with new freshers you could argue she counts as a fresher couldn't you? Is there any reason you have to 'fess up that she did a pre vocational course? after all would this not be the same as someone who had been to 6th form college and is now going to university? It may hinge on the nature of the college and number of students/c change in student cohort between pre voc and 1st year uni equivalent etc. Also whether she was living at home last year and is now living in halls/with other students? If you can't get the vaccine and are prepared to pay the travel vaccine would certainly cover her until she is eligible for the vaccine at 18 y 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katymac Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 I'm a wuss - she is having it The GP surgery gave her the Men C last year as she was going away to college & I tried the she is a fresher this year & it didn't work, so.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeliB Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I have just been going through work stuff (Back from 2 weeks annual leave) and the info I have states 'from today, GPs will be inviting teenagers aged 17 and 18 (born between 01 September 1996 and 31 August 1997) for the vaccine. All adolescents born between 01 September 1996 and 31 August 1997 in England are eligible for vaccination regardless of their future plans.' If your daughter is currently 17 katymac doesn't she qualify anyway? It's age related not dependant on them being physically in school..... Sorry if I have misunderstood... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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