SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan has said he will continue the fight for the urgent introduction of a new vaccine which would protect babies against Meningitis B after receiving a letter today from the British Prime Minister David Cameron on the issue.
The UK has one of the world’s highest Meningitis B rates and it kills more under-fives than any other infectious disease.
In March 2014, the British government said the new vaccine – bexsero – would be given free to babies up to age one on the NHS, subject to price negotiations with developer Novartis.
Mr Durkan, who played a pivotal role in the Meningitis Now ‘Beat it Now!’ campaign to bring in the new vaccine, said:
“It is now two years since the Meningitis B vaccine bexsero was licensed for use across the EU. To achieve its effect of being able to prevent more than 80% of cases here, it needs to be on the routine immunisation schedule for the NHS.
“David Cameron has been unable to give me a firm indication as to when there will be a conclusion to the negotiations between the government and Novartis.
“However, I will continue the fight for an ‘end to the delays’ as ‘time lost is lives lost’.
“Indeed, the lives of so many families in Derry and across the North have been turned upside down by this disease.
“We have a real opportunity to prevent a disease which kills or maims many children – and I will do all I can to keep it high on the health agenda.”
