Meningitis Outbreak

Neil Shastri-Hurst Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for his question, and I am mindful of the concerns of neighbouring communities across his part of London and the wider south-east. I can provide reassurance on two points. The general risk is low because of the nature of the transmission of this disease and because of the active contact tracing that is under way, on which UKHSA has done a particularly impressive job, given the unusual nature of this outbreak. We can be reasonably confident that we are tracing people and managing risk in that way. Even as students return home from university, we are managing the risk, proactively contacting people and making antibiotics available. We are preparing for a targeted vaccination campaign in the coming days, but we are also considering the wider cohorts that UKHSA may deem necessary to vaccinate.

[Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)]

I know from my time in medicine that all those involved in combating this outbreak will be working at pace, and they have our utmost respect. However, there will be concern about the report in The Independent in the last hour or so that certain pharmacies in the region are running out of or running low on the menB vaccine. Will the Secretary of State commit to looking into that personally and ensure that we get a robust supply chain?

[Wes Streeting]

I can understand that some people may choose to buy the vaccine, but I will reassure the hon. Gentleman on two points. First, we have a significant stockpile of vaccines. Secondly, we are taking an evidence-based approach to vaccination, starting with the targeted vaccination programme that UKHSA is preparing. We are thinking about additional cohorts, and we always keep an eye on our medicine supply more generally.