Mother-of-two Gaynor Simpson said it was “heartbreaking” that two young people — including University of Kent student Juliette Kenny – died amid the meningitis outbreak
A mum whose son nearly died having caught meningitis has begged for a programme to vaccinate teenagers and young people.
Gaynor Simpson, 54, said she would have protected her son Ross “in a heartbeat” if she had known about the vaccine sooner. He spent five days on life support when his invasive meningococcal disease progressed into sepsis.
But although Ross, a computing science student at the University of Glasgow, pulled through, Gaynor has been touched by the current meningitis outbreak, which has killed two young people. Speaking last night, Gaynor said: “There’s two mums out there on that day that had the worst possible Mother’s Day. It’s heartbreaking, but it is also infuriating, because we know that there’s a vaccine there that could protect and saves lives.”
Gaynor saw Ross, then 18, admitted to hospital in February 2023 when he experienced a severe pain in his head, a stiff neck and dislike of bright lights — which are among the symptoms of meningitis. He was sharing a flat with two other students at the time and fell unwell there suddenly.
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The menB vaccine was introduced on the NHS for babies in 2015 but children born before then have not been vaccinated on the health service. Calls have amassed for the government to make this available for all demographics following the current outbreak in Kent.
Gaynor, from Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, is an ambassador for Meningitis Now, which is calling for teenagers and young people to be vaccinated against meningitis B on the NHS and a booster programme by 2030 to protect those vaccinated as babies.
“That’s what I would really like to see happen, that this vaccine becomes available for all the young people as they get to 16, so that we know that they’ve had everything that they can have that’s going to protect them during that window of time when they are at higher risk of developing it,” mum-of-two Gaynor said.
“It’s just very confusing for parents when you find out that there’s a vaccine. If we had known that there was a menB vaccine, Ross would have had that vaccine in a heartbeat, without question.”
Ross had the MenACWY vaccine as a teenager, which is different from the meningitis B one. His mother believes parents are often “very confused” as they think they have done all they can to protect their child by taking up the vaccines offered by the NHS.
The UK Health Security Agency said that as of 5pm on Wednesday, 15 cases had been confirmed and a further 12 were under investigation. Currently, nine of the 15 confirmed cases are known to be caused by menB.
