Advice

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has been notified of the discontinuation of Menitorix© (Hib/MenC). This necessitates a change to the routine infant schedule as this vaccine is currently given at 12 months.

After careful consideration of the options, the JCVI advises that:

• an additional dose of Hib-containing multivalent vaccine should be offered at 12 or 18 months of ages – note that giving this at 18 months would require the creation of a new immunisation visit
• the second dose of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine should be brought forwards from 3 years 4 months to 18 months of age to improve coverage
• based on the demonstrated decline of invasive meningococcal A, C, W and Y disease in the UK (primarily due to the success of the teenage MenACWY vaccination programme) and subsequent low number of cases to prevent, including a dose of MenC-containing vaccine (such as MenACWY) in the infant schedule is not recommended – efforts to sustain and improve coverage of MenACWY in adolescents are important to maintain herd immunity

Published: Aug 18, 2022