There is a UK government consultation on a report about the way decisions are made about vaccines.
This will have a huge impact on the future of disease prevention and could signal a move away from preventing illness - especially through vaccines - in the UK and instead favour funding treatment of diseases. Now is your chance to have your say on this.
An interpretation of this report by UK government advisors says it would set ‘a stricter hurdle for vaccines to be found cost-effective compared to other drugs (or public health interventions) assessed by NICE* and potentially signal a move away from prevention.’
Vaccination is the only way to help prevent cases of meningitis and septicaemia. The report could reduce access to new vaccines and potentially new treatments too, by reducing the amount the NHS would be willing to pay for the health benefits they offer.
The benefits of vaccines could be undervalued if the report recommendations are implemented as they are now.
Have your say. We need you to take part in our survey to share your views on the report’s recommendations: https://meningitisresearch.typeform.com/to/nLjpzJ
The survey will close on June 25th.
Background:
The Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advise the UK government on vaccines. In 2013, after considering whether vaccination should be introduced to protect children against MenB (meningococcal B infection, the leading cause of meningitis in UK children), they were concerned that current methods for assessing which vaccines to fund could undervalue the benefits of preventing uncommon, severe diseases in childhood.
As a result, the Cost Effectiveness Methodology for Immunisation Programmes and Procurement (CEMIPP) working group was set up in 2014 to consider whether the method for making decisions about which vaccines to fund should change. While the group considered vaccine decisions, young children continued to die because they could not get access to the MenB vaccine. The death of a young girl, Faye Burdett, led to a huge public outcry and a petition with over 820,000 people calling for greater access to the MenB vaccine.
The UK government promised petitioners that a report produced by CEMIPP would be published in 2016. After a long delay this has now been published and Meningitis Research Foundation has been asked to respond to a consultation on the report and represent public views.
We have written a briefing on the report available here
*NICE is the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – a body that produce guidance, advice and information for health, public health and social care professionals.