What You Need To Know About The Meningococcal B Vaccination, Bexsero

The meningococcal B vaccination has been a hot topic lately. This is mainly due to the long waiting list at pharmacies due to the limited supply.

This vaccination should not be confused with the meningococcal ACWY vaccination recently introduced in the Netherlands. 

The Spanish government has not yet added ‘Bexsero’ to the vaccination schedule. Therefore, parents have no choice but to pay for it themselves if they want their child to be vaccinated.

The vaccination for meningococcal B is not easy to find in Spain, because not much can be supplied. Some parents have waited several months to receive the dose.

Recently, the amount of vaccinations and the supply to pharmacies has grown a lot in Spain. As a result, more parents are thinking about vaccinating their child.

In the next article we will talk further about the Meningococcal B vaccination. We hope this information will help you decide whether or not to vaccinate your child.

Is the meningococcal B vaccination important for my child’s health?

This is something many parents wonder. It is up to the parents to choose whether or not to vaccinate their child, as this vaccination is optional.

Parents should make a decision based on the information they have about the vaccination. So it is the choice of the parents and no one else.

Even doctors don’t tell parents whether or not to vaccinate their child. They simply provide information and leave the choice to the parents.

It is very unlikely that your child will come into contact with Meningococcal B, but it is not impossible. It is a very serious disease, which makes the choice for the parents very difficult.

In fact, it is astonishing that this vaccination is not yet part of the vaccination schedule.  Of the meningococcal cases in Spain, 65% is caused by the meningococcal B bacteria.

The Spanish Pediatric Association has reported that between 400 and 600 cases were registered in 2013. About 1 in 10 cases ends in death. In addition, between 20 and 30 percent of cases suffer from serious consequences such as:

• deafness
• an intellectual disability
• convulsions

However, the remaining 70-80 percent will not suffer permanent damage.

Everything you need to know about the meningococcal B vaccination

At what age can I have my child vaccinated?

The meningococcal B vaccination can be administered when your child is 2 months old. This vaccination can also be given to children who are older and have not yet been vaccinated.

It is best not to give Bexsero in combination with other vaccinations that are on the vaccination schedule. That’s why many health centers wait until the child is 3 months old before vaccinating them against meningococcal B.

Is this vaccination safe?

The AEMPS (Spanish Medicine and Sanitary Product Association) did not allow delivery of this vaccine until it was proven to be safe.

About 8,000 children of various ages participated in this study. As a result, pain and swelling around the injection site were the only side effects in the children who were vaccinated.

In addition, some children were more irritable than usual and suffered from a low-grade fever.

Is meningococcal B dangerous?

Meningococcal B is very dangerous, especially for small children, as their immune systems are still developing and cannot fight the infection well. In some cases, young children with meningococcal B have died.

Is there a treatment for this disease?

Yes, there is a treatment. There are antibiotics that meningococcal B counter. But the possibility for this treatment depends on the age of the child and after how much time the infection is discovered.

In very small children, the infection can grow very quickly and antibiotics have no effect.

Is the vaccination effective?

Yes. In the United Kingdom, cases of children with meningococcal B have been halved.

Only 37 cases were registered in the year the vaccination program started, compared to more than 74 cases per year in previous years.

How much does the vaccination cost?

We will not deny that the price is quite high. You have to save quite a bit of money, especially since the wage in Spain is lower than in other European countries.

The price per dose is 106.15 euros.

Now that you have that information, you know that the choice is up to the parents whether to have their child vaccinated or not. It is a decision that is entirely reserved to the father and mother of a child, who can make a choice based on all the information.

Remember that it is very unlikely that a child will get meningococcal B. But if he does catch it, it’s a very serious illness.