MRF responds to meningitis petition evidence session

27 Feb 2018

Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF) attended a meeting at parliament today in which the Petitions Committee questioned Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care, Steve Brine, about delays to the publication of the Government’s report on the cost-effectiveness of vaccines.

The report, which was due to be published in 2016, was finally published yesterday following continued pressure from MRF’s supporters and the Petitions and Health Committees.

The report can be read here, and the consultation on the report can be read here.

"The 820,000 people who signed the petition wanted wider access to vaccines, but the recommendations in the report would make it much harder to get vaccines introduced." - Vinny Smith, CEO, MRF

Vinny Smith, Chief Executive of MRF said: "If implemented as a package, the report recommendations would result in the opposite of what the petitioners wanted. The 820,000 people who signed the petition wanted wider access to vaccines, but the recommendations in the report would make it much harder to get vaccines introduced.

"However, now we have a full consultation, our concerns can be openly questioned in more depth. We're pleased that the minister said that his door is always open and that he wants to engage with public.

"We look forward to taking the Minister up on his offer of a meeting and representing their views to him, as well as helping his department engage better with the public in future.

"We will continue working closely with the petitions committee and our supporters to ensure the voices of parents and individuals are heard."

MRF will also push to see the hidden impact assessments that have been done on the affect these new rules would have on current vaccines. The hearing heard that the figures are ‘commercially sensitive’ but MRF believes the figures don’t need to be published to reveal if certain vaccines would still be available if the report recommendations were followed.