Dad praises 'fantastic' meningitis vaccine rollout

A man whose 18-year-old son died from meningitis earlier this year has described a one-off vaccine programme as "fantastic".

Anthony Mills, from Kidderminster, lost his son Aaron to the virus on 3 January after he complained of a headache just days prior.

On Friday, the government announced a million young people in the UK would be offered a vaccine to help protect against meningitis B.

"My initial reaction was... I cried. I immediately thought of Aaron and it hurts because I know if all this came out last year we'd have got him a vaccine and he'd probably be with us now," Mills said.

He added: "But the thing is, that's what I've campaigned for. It's just a really, really good thing and it's a really big win for me, and it's something I can put to rest.

"I'd like to see more but hopefully it's the start of more to come, where they will roll out a full vaccine programme for everybody else.

"But I think there is an urgency to get the new starters vaccinated before freshers week, which is absolutely fantastic and exactly what I wanted."

The one-off programme has been launched after concerns over the UK's largest and fastest growing meningitis B outbreak to date in Kent this year.

There were also two further "unusual" clusters in Weymouth in Dorset and Reading in Berkshire.

The two-dose vaccine will be for pupils in Year 13 in England and Wales, Year 14 in Northern Ireland and S6 in Scotland, as well as those aged 18 to 25 heading to university or residential further education for the first time in the autumn.

Officials say the programme will help protect those at "highest immediate risk".

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