Vaccination against meningitis, which is currently only mandatory in babies against a single family of bacteria, must be more widely available to counteract the resurgence of these diseases, the High Health Authority (HAS) ruled this Wednesday, March 27.
“Although the application of barrier measures during the Covid-19 crisis has allowed a notable decrease in these infections, the latest data show a resumption of the circulation of meningococci in France,” underlines the HAS.
“The government will follow this opinion and I welcome the work of the High Health Authority which will allow us to concretely reinforce our strategy to combat meningococci,” commented the Delegate Minister of Health, Frédéric Valletoux, to BFMTV.
It will specify “in the coming days” the modalities for implementing this recommendation.
A single vaccine in two doses
Meningitis are particularly serious infections of the brain and spinal cord. They are fatal one in ten times and, the rest of the time, they usually cause significant neurological sequelae.
Most often they are caused by a virus, but sometimes also by bacteria, called meningococci. Against them, vaccination is possible, but is complicated by the existence of many different groups of meningococci.
Currently, vaccination is only mandatory for children under one year of age against group C meningococci, although it is also highly recommended for group B.
However, “serogroups W and Y have progressed significantly, especially among infants and young people,” underlines the HAS, highlighting in particular the very fatal nature of meningococcus W infections.
For this reason, the authority now recommends making vaccination mandatory for children under one year of age against meningococci A, B, W and Y, as well as against meningococci C.
Vaccination would be done with a single vaccine – in two doses – for the four strains A, C, W and Y, and another for strain B.
The HAS has also modified its recommendations for older children, although this time it is not about becoming mandatory.
Currently, vaccination against meningococcus C is only recommended up to age 24, but only if it was not done when the patient was a baby.
From now on, for meningococci A, C, W and Y, a new dose is recommended for children aged 11 to 14 years, even if they had been vaccinated at less than one year old.
On the other hand, the HAS still does not recommend the meningococcus B vaccine in adolescents and young adults, considering that infections related to this strain are too rare in this age group.
Source: BFM TV
