THOUSANDS of children and teenagers across the South are set to benefit from a mass immunisation programme against meningitis.

The government is rushing to licence a new vaccination that can protect babies against the C-strain of the deadly disease for the first time.

The first batch of the vaccine will be ready to give to babies by the end of October or the start of November and scientists hope it will soon prevent up to 40 per cent of deaths caused annually by the brain virus.

Dr Mike Barker, head of the communicable disease unit at Southampton and South West Hampshire Health Authority, said: "This is obviously a major advance and we hope we're going to be able to save a lot of lives because of it.

"The new vaccine is still not licensed in this country to be used on a general basis, but it should be ready by October/November time.

"Because this is a new discovery there isn't a stockpile of the vaccine so there won't be enough to give to everyone at once. It will be phased in to the groups who are most at risk first."

Babies will be the first to receive the vaccine along with dyphtheria, whooping cough and polio combinations between two and four months.

This will be followed by a catch-up programme for four to 12-month olds.

Toddlers of around 13 months will receive the vaccine alongside their measles, mumps and rubella inoculations.

The next at-risk group is 15 to 17-year-olds who may have to wait until the new year for their doses, depend-ing on the speed of manufacture.

The health authority estimates there are around 10,000 teenagers in this region who will need the jab.

First year students will contacted to have the old C-strain jab before going to college.

Hampshire mum Teresa Casey, whose two-year-old son Matthew survived the disease last year, welcomed the new development.

Mrs Casey, from Whitebeam Road, Hedge End, said: "It's absolutely fantastic that they've got a vaccination. Of course it only covers the C-strain but they've got to start somewhere.

"My son contracted pneumococcal meningitis, the most uncommon strain, but he has now fully recovered thanks to the speed of treatment he received from our GP and the staff at Southampton General Hospital.

"So it's important that parents don't drop their guard once their children have been immunised. It won't wip out meningitis and they should watch out for the symptoms from other strains." There are around 1,500 cases of the C-strain virus every year in England and Wales resulting in 150 deaths.

There is currently no vaccine to protect against the B-strain virus which accounts for 60 per cent of meningitis cases in the UK every year.

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