Foyle MP Mark Durkan with Emma and Darren Cowey, from Tullyally, who lost their infant son, Jamie, to Meningitis B.
SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan has called on the British Government to publish the details of when the new Meningitis B vaccine (Bexsero) will be given to all babies on the National Health Service (NHS), saying “time lost is lives lost.”
Mr Durkan’s call comes eight months after the Department of Health announced the vaccine was being recommended for inclusion in the National Immunisation Programme.
Mr Durkan, who played a pivotal role in the Beat it Now! campaign to bring in the vaccine, said he shared the disappointment of the charity, Meningitis Now, that there was still no date for its implementation despite the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommending its introduction.
He added: “I fully support their call on government and the vaccine company to complete negotiations with some urgency – as ‘time lost is lives lost.’
“We have a real opportunity to prevent a disease which kills or maims many children and we need to keep it high on the health agenda.
“I am therefore calling for the urgent introduction of the Meningitis B vaccine and that it is made available to all babies on the NHS without further delay.”
Earlier this year, Sue Davie, chief executive of Britain’s biggest meningitis charity, Meningitis Now, paid tribute to the “incredible” work of Mr Durkan in supporting the Beat it Now! campaign and helping to secure the new vaccine against the deadly Meningitis B disease.
Mr Durkan tabled a number of parliamentary motions at Westminster calling on the British Government to introduce Bexsero and also supported the local campaign by Derry parents Emma and Darren Cowey who lost their nine-month-old son Jamie to Meningitis B in November 2004.
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