Meningococcal vaccines

On this page you’ll find an overview of meningococcal vaccines, including what they are, who can get them and why they’re important. 

• Meningococcal meningitis is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis globally and can have a devastating impact on families and individuals.
• There are several different groups (serogroups), the six most common of which are A, B, C, W, X and Y.
• Certain serogroups of meningococcal bacteria are more common in different parts of the world.
• The vaccines available to you and your family will depend on where in the world you live.
• Not all meningococcal disease is vaccine-preventable, but vaccines are available which protect against different serogroups.
• Meningococcal vaccines are a safe and effective way to protect yourself and your family from illness caused by meningococcal bacteria.

What are meningococcal vaccines?

Meningococcal vaccines protect against disease caused by meningococcal bacteria. There are several groups (called serogroups) of meningococcal bacteria that can cause disease. The most common disease-causing groups around the world are A, B, C, W, X and Y.¹ The risk of becoming unwell with one of these groups varies according to where in the world you live.

Read more about meningococcal meningitis.

Several vaccines are available to protect against different groups of meningococcal bacteria, and different combinations of groups. These include:

• MenA
• MenB
• MenC
• MenAC
• MenACWY
• MenABCWY
• MenACWYX

Meningococcal vaccines work by introducing a harmless piece of the bacteria, called an antigen, into your body. This allows your immune system to recognise the bacteria and make protective antibodies against it. These antibodies then circulate in the bloodstream. If you encounter the bacteria you’ve been vaccinated against, your antibodies can destroy them before they can make you sick.

Many of the meningococcal vaccines available are known as conjugate vaccines. They are made from a small fragment of the sugar coating on the outside of the bacteria, joined to a harmless protein. Conjugate vaccines work well in children and provide long-lasting protection. They protect you from becoming unwell and also stop you from carrying the bacteria and passing it to others. This helps protect the wider population from the disease.
 
Some meningococcal vaccines are polysaccharide vaccines. This means they contain just the outer sugary coat of the bacteria. Unfortunately, these vaccines don’t work well in children. Also, they don’t stop you from carrying the bacteria and passing it to others.
 
The vaccines that protect against meningococcal group B (MenB) are protein vaccines. These vaccines contain proteins found on the surface of the bacteria. Like the other meningococcal vaccines, they trigger our immune system to produce antibodies that attack and fight off infection. The MenB vaccine provides protection against meningococcal disease, but doesn’t stop you from carrying the bacteria. So, like polysaccharide vaccines, they don’t prevent the bacteria being spread. 
 
If a meningococcal vaccine is available to you or your family through your country's national immunisation program, the type of vaccine you’re offered will depend on which groups are most common where you live.

Who can get meningococcal vaccines?

Unlike for some other meningitis vaccines, there is no global recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO) for all countries across the world to have a meningococcal vaccination programme. People who live in an area of sub-Saharan Africa known as the meningitis belt are at much higher risk of becoming ill with this disease than those in other areas of the world. For this reason, the WHO have recommended that all countries in the meningitis belt introduce meningococcal vaccines into their immunisation schedule.²

Outside the meningitis belt, countries make decisions about whether to provide meningococcal vaccines by gathering and considering evidence on:

• How common the disease is.
• The expected impact of the vaccine.
• The vaccine's cost.

These countries use vaccine experts to decide how to use meningococcal vaccines. They usually target people who are at the highest risk of becoming ill or who are at the highest risk of passing the disease on to others. So recommendations for the use of meningococcal vaccines tend to include:
 

• Children under the age of five (who are usually at the highest risk of disease).
• Sometimes teenagers (who are at increased risk of both getting the disease and passing the disease-causing bacteria to others).

Certain medical conditions can also increase your risk of meningococcal meningitis. Examples include asplenia or dysfunction of the spleen, complement disorders and immunosuppression (due to diseases like HIV or treatments like chemotherapy). If you have one of these conditions, you may be eligible to receive a vaccine no matter what age you are. Speak to a health professional about the vaccines available to you.
 
You can find out if meningococcal vaccines are part of your country’s national immunisation programme by checking the WHO's national immunisation schedule data portal.

In the UK and Ireland, the available vaccines that protect against meningococcal bacteria are:
 

• MenACWY, which is offered to teenagers between 13-15 years of age.
• Men B, which is offered to babies at 8 and 16 weeks with a booster aged one.
• Men C, which is offered to children aged 12-13 months (as a combined MenC/Hib vaccine).

Vaccination against meningococcal meningitis is also recommended if you're travelling to areas at risk. Large outbreaks of meningococcal disease have been linked to the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages. So it’s very important for pilgrims participating in Hajj or Umrah to get vaccinated with the MenACWY vaccine before travel.

Read more about vaccination for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims.

Are meningococcal vaccines safe?

Yes, all vaccines undergo extensive testing before they are licensed. When a vaccine is licensed, it means that experts have assessed the vaccine for safety and how well it works. Vaccine safety is then closely monitored during use. Clinical trial data shows the vaccines are safe and effective.³ They also have an excellent safety record since their introduction in routine immunisation programmes.⁴

You may experience minor side effects following vaccination. These symptoms are usually mild and go away on their own within a few days.

Common side effects of meningococcal vaccines include:

• Irritability, crying, restlessness.
• Loss of appetite.
• Headache.
• Pain, redness and swelling at the injection site.
• Feeling tired (fatigue).
• Mild fever.

Fever is common in babies when the MenB vaccine is given with other routine infant vaccines. In the UK, it’s recommended to give infants paracetamol soon after the MenB vaccine. This reduces the risk of fever and other side effects.⁵

Meningococcal meningitis is a severe and life-threatening disease that can cause death within hours, so it’s important to get your children vaccinated.

Why is it important to take up meningococcal vaccines?

Meningococcal meningitis is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis globally.⁶ It can kill within 24 hours and can have a devastating impact on families and individuals. Even in countries with well-developed healthcare systems around one in ten people who get it will die and as many as one in three survivors will be left with life-altering complications such as cognitive and psychological problems or disability, including hearing loss.⁷ Symptoms can be hard to spot and are similar to other common illnesses in the early stages. Prevention through vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and your family.

Meningococcal vaccines have saved many lives. The rollout of the MenA vaccine in the African meningitis belt has nearly eliminated group A meningococcal disease in the region and saved at least 2,000 lives.⁸ In the UK, meningococcal bacteria were once the leading cause of meningitis. But following the introduction of various meningococcal vaccination programmes, such as MenC, the teenage MenACWY programme and routine immunisation with MenB, there has been a dramatic decline in meningococcal meningitis across all age groups.⁹
 
Vaccination with conjugate meningococcal vaccines also protects the wider population from meningococcal disease. It stops people from carrying and spreading the bacteria.

For many years antibiotics have been used to treat meningococcal meningitis. But the meningococcal bacteria are finding new ways to resist antibiotics. This is known as antimicrobial resistance. Some groups of meningococcal bacteria have developed antimicrobial resistance in some areas of the world. Preventing meningococcal infections is key. It reduces the need to treat infections with antibiotics and therefore the chance of antimicrobial resistance.

Author: Meningitis Research Foundation.
Reviewed by: Natalie King, Meningitis Research Foundation Ambassador.
Published: 7 April 2025.