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Wellbeing

Have you had your meningitis vaccine?

By QMResLife 26 Sep 2022

All university students should make sure they are up to date with all their vaccines, including;

Meningococcal A, C, W and Y (MenACWY) vaccine (that protects against 4 types of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) that cause meningitis and septicaemia)
2 doses of MMR (protecting against measles, mumps, rubella)
HPV vaccine (protecting against cervical and other cancers caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) together with genital warts)
As well as their recommended coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.

If you are unsure, it might be worth checking with your GP practice that you're up to date with all your vaccines before starting at university. If you're not up to date we would advise you to arrange to have any missed vaccines as soon as possible.

MenACWY vaccine gives high protection against 4 common types of IMD (MenA, MenC, MenW and MenY) but won’t protect against others, like meningococcal B (MenB). Measures introduced to control the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 led to an historically low level of IMD in the 2020 to 2021 academic year.

With the easing of social restrictions from July 2021, IMD cases rose in the 2021 to 2022 academic year but remained at low levels, with MenB cases accounting for most (88%) disease. This increase was particularly notable in young people of university age (19 to 22 years). So, it is important that young people know the signs and symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia, how to get medical help if they need it and how to look out for their own health and the health of others.

https://www.studenthealth.qmul.ac.uk/meningitis-information