Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the use of social media to increase immunisation rates against meningitis for those aged between 15 and 25.

Over the past three years, to increase immunisation rates for the meningitis vaccine uptake, Public Health England (PHE) has paid for a targeted social media campaign. The campaign was aimed at school leavers through social media posts, case studies and video. This campaign also included resources and messaging which targeted parents as a key driver of health behaviour.

Widespread coverage by the media has helped to encourage vaccination in this age group. This included alerting school leavers to get their vaccine before going to university through national media, student publications, targeting festivals and summer travel where we know infections such as these can spread more easily. This activity also targeted parents.

PHE also worked with three social media influencers who target this age group to generate ‘back to University’ vlog posts in which they highlighted the importance of vaccination.