Meningitis vaccine could 'save thousands of lives'

A new Meningitis B vaccine, approved for UK use today, "will save thousands of lives, especially among children under five, who are most at risk from the disease", according to Meningitis UK.

The vaccine is the first to be licensed specifically for Meningitis B, one of the deadliest and most common strains of the disease:

• Meningitis B is the most common form of the disease in the UK, affecting 1,870 people each year, many of them children
• One in 10 people who contract the disease will die
• One in four will be left with life-changing after effects, such as brain damage or limb loss