General Chat

UK rejects meningitis B vaccine :-|

The only vaccine to protect against a deadly form of meningitis should not be introduced in the UK, the body that advises governments on immunisation says.

About 1,870 people contract meningitis B each year and one in 10 dies.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said the vaccine was not cost-effective and should not yet be adopted by the NHS.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23422973

I think anything that saves children's lives should not have a price put on it - what do you think?

Not cost effective? How much do they think peoples lives are worth?

As a mother of a son who contracted meningitis at age 2 weeks and who has been left with brain damage I am appalled by this.

I notice that they don't give figures as to how many are left in the same position as my son and therefore take into account the money they would save by not having to support the survivors, who need it, for the rest of their lives.

Chris

Just who are these so called Committee members? I think that when people get into the position where they have to make decisions for the public sometimes power goes to their heads and common sense flies out.............their decision on this very important vaccine is disgraceful , they state one in ten dies, that is bad enough, but as Chris says no mention of those kiddies who are left with brain damage, amputated limbs and I am sure many more problems (which will probably cost the gov. just as much as the vaccine in the long run) Anyway how much is a childs life?
And in my opinion YES it should be available.

If it's a matter of cost, maybe if the politicians refused the wage increase or the bank workers refuse the million pound bonus they get or ATTOS was to be sacked & so money would stop being wasted, then the life of children could be saved. Just my view.

Yes it should be available on the NHS

If it works, there is no reason it should not be available,After all if they can enhance somebodys Boobs just because they feel depressed about the ones they have,Its a disgrace they don,t use it. Just a thought, are these people the same as the Quango that runs N.I.C.E.? if so get rid of them They are not fit for purpose.**M**. :-(

Any kind of immunisation such as Bexsero depends on "herd immunisation" e.g. measles vaccination. Thus in order to make any real difference to the number of children and adolescents contracting the disease pretty well the whole relevant population would have to be immunised.

For most immunisation programs the unit costs are a few pounds, though even then the total annual cost runs to many millions of pounds. The most common programs are thought to be cost effective as without them a significant proportion of the population would contract the disease with all the ensuing health care downside.

Fortunately cases of infant meningitis are rare.

There are two drug companies racing to develop a treatment, Novartis is one. The company is looking for very substantial sales at high unit costs.NICE has judged that the overall cost is not a good use of the NHS budget which is not infinite.

The current decision is an interim one. During the next year the alternative treatment should be available and competition should hopefully drive prices down to an acceptable level though it could take quite a while.

It is wrong for drug companies such as Novartis to point the gun at health services in this way. They are just seeking to maximise their profits. An alternative approach would be to collaborate with the NHS and foreign health providers and share the risk and profit. This is something the drug majors will not do.

In the meantime the sad fact is that the value of most children's lives has a price caught between the jaws of shareholder returns and provider budgets.

As the treatment has EU approval it is of course available on a private basis.

How I'd love to be able to speak face to face with the PM / Health Minister and get them to look me straight in the eye and tell me it costs more than a childs life :-|

RolloTheRed posted that as the treatment has EU approval it would be available on a private basis - so I wonder how many politicians whose family members have young children will go down that road ;-)

I addition although I am not against IVF being available on the NHS I do think if we can spend money to produce children we can spend money on saving children.

The point that OFITG is ignoring is that a vaccine is not a treatment for an individual person but a preventative.

An individual can decide to shell out a fairly serious sum and get their offspring protected (*). However the NHS cannot do this, it is all are none. It is not possible pick out groups or sub-populations at risk beyond anybody under 20.

Hence the cost of using this vaccine on a universal basis is way off the scale hence the decision not to authorise it at this time.

It is a nice idea to say that anybody's life is beyond price and that applies 1000 times more for children but it ain't so.

For instance far too many children die and are seriously injured on roads not far from where they live. Many more than from meningitis. The casualties could be cut to nearly zero simply by enforcing a 10mph speed limit on residential streets. This does not happen. Why? Cost. Even a 20mph limit is a hot potato.

The other side of the coin is which high cost treatment you would withdraw to pay for this vaccine. There is no chance of the NHS budget being increased as the current ring fencing has already brought other government budgets to breaking point.

(*) The efficacy of the vaccine is not cut and dried in any case.

I have taken on board what you have said, you make a lot of valid points and I understand what you are saying - call me an old softy but I am always saddened by the death of any child especially where lives could be saved and the opportunity to do this is denied on the basis of cost.

It never ceases to amaze me that cost does not appear to be a consideration when it comes to the never ending growth of bureaucracy, hardly a week passes that there is not some new body, group, or investigation, set up to look into any issue that has raises it's ugly head.

One can only hope that when the time comes for the JCVI to review their decision that they will reverse it.

Sad to say but all kinds of marvelous things would be possible but for the lack of money to pay for them.

An amazingly small sum ( less than that needed for the new meningitis B vaccine across the EU ) would bring clean water to millions of children and save the lives and futures of hundred of thousands. It doesn't happen.

Many professional people have to make choices on how to allocate resources knowing full well that in a world far from ideal their decisions will mean certain death for some unknown statistic. It is not fair that they are criticised from pillar to post.

The best way to get any improvement in people's lives and to pay for better health care is to get the economy moving, a trick that is beyond the ability of Geo Osbourne and beyond the wit of Len McCluskey. Instead we get the weird mixture of cuts and HS2 while Len aims to murder that thing he claims to hold most dear, the Labour Party.

sic transit gloria mundis

I know of several children who have been affected by meningitis when young, one lost his hearing in one ear, one has learning difficulties and one young woman lost both hands and lower limbs. You read about so many more. It's frightening how life changing the illness can be for a child and their family and of course the death of a child is devastating for all who loved the little one.

If there is something that can help prevent it then it should be considered and the money found. We send more and more money abroad to help others, and I don't grudge it but it must affect our own children and young people.

Lizx