The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has stressed the importance of children and young people being vaccinated against meningitis, measles and HPV ahead of the incoming academic year.
The government agency has issued a reminder to young people heading and returning to university in the coming weeks to ensure they are up to date with their free NHS childhood and adolescent vaccinations.
And with measles activity continuing to be high, the UKHSA has also flagged the importance of ensuring children are up to date with all their routine vaccinations too.
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Confined environments with lots of people newly coming together are especially vulnerable to the spread of Covid-19, flu, measles mumps, meningitis and septicaemia, the UKHSA said.
In England, all students are eligible for the MenACWY vaccine in school year 9 or 10, which protects them against four different types of meningococcal bacteria that can cause meningitis and septicaemia.
The MenACWY vaccine is available to anyone who missed the vaccine up to their 25th birthday.
Young children are also offered two doses of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella.
If students have not yet had their vaccines, they should arrange to have the missed vaccines as soon as possible with their local GP practice, the UKHSA said.
Cases of measles remain high, with 2,278 laboratory confirmed cases in England since 1 January this year and 153 confirmed cases in the last four weeks up to 5 August.
Dr Shamez Ladhani, consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA, said: ‘We usually see increases in cases of meningococcal meningitis after the university term starts in September.
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‘New and returning students from around the country and overseas coming together and mixing means infection spreads easily, with some students becoming seriously ill and tragically in some cases, we see deaths.’
Also stressing the need for students to get vaccinated, a spokesperson at the University of Salford’s nursing team, said: ‘We strongly advise all university students to make sure they have had two doses of Measles, Mumps and Rubella in their lifetime. Measles is a highly infectious virus taking only a few minutes to spread between people.
‘If you are not vaccinated even young healthy people can become very sick with measles needing hospitalisation or critical care treatment and can also sadly can lead to death. If you are not vaccinated please contact your GP as soon as possible to become protected.’
Students should be up to date with the following three vaccines ahead of starting university:
MenACWY – protecting against four common kinds of meningococcal bacteria causing meningitis and septicaemia
MMR – protecting against measles, mumps and rubella
HPV – protecting against human papilloma virus related cancers such as cervical cancer and other cancers of the head, neck and genital areas, and genital warts
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Symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia may include:
high temperature
cold hands and feet
vomiting
confusion
breathing quickly
muscle and joint pain
pale, mottled or blotchy skin (this may be harder to see on brown or black skin)
spots or a rash (this may be harder to see on brown or black skin)
headache
stiff neck
dislike of bright lights
being very sleepy or difficult to wake
fits (seizures)
