Meningitis B survivor Lisa Shoko tells ITV News Health Correspondent Rebecca Barry about her ordeal and why she thinks the NHS should start offering free vaccinations against meningitis B to teenagers
For Lisa Shoko, the recent meningitis outbreak in Kent was painfully reminiscent.
In 2015, Lisa was an excited and ambitious law student in her first year at the University of Kent. But everything changed that winter when she suddenly got a headache.
At first, Lisa dismissed it as a migraine, but then came sensitivity to light, a fever and aching muscles, until she collapsed. She lay unconscious on her bathroom floor for hours before she was eventually found by her housemate.
Lisa, who was 18 years old at the time, has no memory of what followed, but doctors and her family prepared for the worst as she spent more than a week in a life-threatening condition in intensive care.
While she survived meningitis B, Lisa – who was once a talented public speaker and tennis player – would never be the same person again.
Brain fog and memory loss made studying impossible.
“I failed my first year of university because I simply couldn’t keep up,” Lisa told ITV News. “Coming out of meningitis I had a severe stammer, I couldn’t speak without hesitation, I’d lost my confidence completely.”
It turned out that surviving the infection was only her first hurdle.
“I felt isolated and anxious. For years after experiencing meningitis, I felt extremely depressed, watching everyone else that you know move forward with their lives.
“You might not see it physically, but you don’t realise how much harder I have to work.”
Lisa eventually managed to complete her degree, but wants other young people to be protected against the lifelong impact of this dangerous disease.
She believes the NHS should start offering free vaccinations against meningitis B to teenagers.
“I think it should be rolled out on the NHS, I think it should be accessible.”
The Meningitis Research Foundation has analysed the most recent annual data from the four nations of the UK and shared the findings exclusively with ITV News.
Across the UK, there were 475 annual cases of invasive meningococcal disease. And, overwhelmingly, the B strain was the leading cause – that’s the same type we saw in the Kent outbreak.
In fact, in England and Northern Ireland, it accounted for 100% of cases in teenagers. Scotland and Wales don’t publish the data by age group.
The MenB vaccine is offered on the NHS to babies, but protection is not lifelong. Teenagers can get a free vaccine against the A, C, W and Y strains of the bacteria.
But further protection against MenB has to be paid for privately, costing up to £300 for the two doses.
Some experts say this shows a worrying protection gap for teens and young adults. The Meningitis Research Foundation is calling for an NHS immunisation programme against Men B for this at-risk age group.
“Meningitis has not gone away in the UK, and it is prevalent amongst this age group,” Vinny Smith, chief executive of Meningitis Research Foundation, told ITV News.
“They are the future of this country. We’re looking at an age group that is not protected, when they could be. In this day and age, that doesn’t make any sense to me.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The Secretary of State has asked the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JVCI) for an updated recommendation on Meningococcal B vaccination based on the latest evidence, including from the recent outbreak in the Canterbury area.
“The JCVI is reviewing eligibility, have provided the Meningitis Research Foundation with the opportunity to submit evidence as part of that review and will provide further updates in due course.
“The UK has a world-leading national immunisation programme which is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect the changing nature of infectious diseases and provide the best protection and outcomes for the public.”
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