The Government must do more to support the development and early implementation of vaccines against meningitis and septicaemia, Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas said today.

Around 500,000 people in the UK today have had meningitis, and every year, another 9,000 contract the disease. There is currently no vaccine to protect against Meningitis Type B, which can be fatal or leave survivors of the disease with devastating after affects.

Earlier this week, Caroline met with Kate Ogden, a Brighton volunteer from the Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF), to discuss the organisation's Meningitis Awareness Week (19-25 September) and its Counting the Cost campaign, which highlights the shocking lifelong costs of surviving meningitis and septicaemia.

She has now written to the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, to call on the Government to pursue the widest and earliest implementation of vaccines - in recognition of the long term financial burden on families and the state in dealing with the disease.

Caroline Lucas MP, who has also signed the MRF's online petition to support Counting the Cost, said:

"Meningitis and septicaemia have a profound and far-reaching impact on the lives of the survivors and their families, with many needing specialist medical care and long term support with their education, work and finances.

"It costs three times as much, for example, for a family to raise a disabled child, and those families are four times as likely to be living in poverty.

"The existing system for evaluating vaccines focuses too much on immediate costs to the NHS.

"The Government needs to take a broader perspective, and invest more now in preventative vaccines to reduce long term financial costs to the state."

ENDS

CAPTION: Caroline Lucas MP at her constituency surgery with Kate Ogden of the Meningitis Research Foundation

Notes

The Meningitis Research Foundation is a registered charity that fights death and disability from meningitis and associated infections by funding vital scientific research. They are currently fund 18 research projects.

Since founded in 1989, they have been awarded 135 research grants, leading to many advances in the prevention, detection and treatment of meningitis and septicaemia. The total value of their investment in vital scientific research is over £16.5 million (€19 million).

Meningitis Research Foundation is at the forefront of charities funding the discovery of vaccines against MenB, and is supporting several programmes across Europe and in the USA in the search for new vaccine targets. It is hoped a vaccine will be available in the next couple of years.