What are meningitis vaccines?
Meningitis is the swelling of the lining of the brain and spinal cord (called meninges). It’s a serious, often life-threatening illness that can kill in hours.
Vaccination is a safe way to develop protection against some of the most common causes of the disease and reduce the spread of infections.
There’s no one vaccine which protects against the many different causes of meningitis. But there are several vaccines for those at greatest risk to protect against bacterial and viral infections – the two leading causes of the disease. They are:
- Pneumococcal vaccines.
- Meningococcal vaccines.
- Haemophilus influenzae (Hib) vaccines.
- Measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccines.
- BCG vaccines.
There are vaccines in development for other common causes of meningitis, for example group B streptococcal meningitis.