Immunisation

You may now be aware of the news releases this morning (12/6/26) from both the UK, and Scottish Government Protecting young people against MenB - gov.scot in relation to a new one off vaccination programme for MenB. Following recent outbreaks of meningitis in the UK, the Scottish Government has announced plans to offer a new programme of Meningococcal B (MenB) vaccination for young people this summer.

This time-limited programme, due to commence in July, will be offered to some older teenagers and some new college and university students who are at higher risk of exposure to meningococcal group B bacteria.   

This programme has been agreed at a four national level, and whilst we have been unable to share any information until now (as it has been of a confidential nature) we wanted to assure you that we have been working closely with Scottish Government and NHS Board colleagues to start to plan for the introduction of this programme. We appreciate the timescale is short and there is an immense amount of work required ahead of a July implementation date, however we will continue to work at pace over the coming days and weeks to provide the resources required to support this implementation. The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) letter in relation to this new programme is planned to be issued early next week.

Workforce Education

Public Services Delivery (PSD) Scotland are developing workforce education resources to help support practitioners gain the knowledge required to safely and effectively deliver this offer of the MenB vaccine. These will be available on Turas Learn: Meningococcal (Men B) | Turas | Learn  once the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) letter is issued. 

Informed Consent

• Information for the public will be available on www.nhsinform.scot/menb-youngpeople  This is a new page on NHS Inform which should be live by 9am on Friday 12/6/26. Information on this page is currently limited however once we are aware of individual boards delivery plans’ we will ensure this information can be accessed via NHS Inform to local board services.
• Additional resources to support informed consent will be available in advance of the programme, including an informed consent leaflet in English and other formats and languages.
• A supply of printed vaccine record cards are being sent to one location per health board for onward local distribution to vaccination clinic sites. Please ensure these are given to everyone attending for their first MenB vaccine and completed with dates that dose 1 is given and when dose 2 is due (at least 28 days after the first dose).

National call centre support

• National vaccination helpline: 0800 030 8013. Open from 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm on Saturday and closed on Sunday and bank holidays.
• NH24 helpline: 0800 22 44 88 open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.

At present the information that can be shared is limited however this will be supplemented in the coming days and weeks. We are aware that there will be many questions about eligibility; how to access an appointment etc therefore a list of FAQs is currently being compiled to support call handlers and the NHSInform page. We therefore suggest that the press releases are utilised to form the basis of Lines to Take (attached document - Lines to Take) for local and national helpline/centres. The main message will be to continue to check NHSInform page www.nhsinform.scot/menb-youngpeople

Please do get in touch with the Workforce Education Team on immunisation-resource@nes.scot.nhs.uk if you require further information.