Men ACWY booster for travel

Just updating some slides and checking references I found that the Meningococcal disease factsheet on TravelHealthPro was updated on 8th September and the following has been put:

Reinforcing immunisation
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) Committee reviewed information on length of protection following ACWY conjugate vaccination. Antibody against serogroup A disease was the first to wane, and this meant boosting was important for travel, but less important for the routine MenACWY programme in the UK. For travellers at continued risk, the Committee agreed that boosting every five years would be a sensible approach until data became available.  

The reference to this is in the JCVI draft minutes of their meeting on 7th June 2017.

This is so good to establish amidst all the current confusion in travel right now!  Don't forget the length of time to be written on a certificate for visa entry for Pilgrims to Hajj or Umrah is now 5 years and the paperwork must clearly state that the vaccine given was a meningococcal conjugate vaccine.  See the information from NaTHNaC here 

Please note, this information supersedes my blog of 25th May regarding the boosting of ACWY vaccine see here

And just out of interest - this vaccine has always been under the category of you may charge for it (like hepatitis B) but that doesn't mean you have to charge.  This clarification remains in the BMA GPC document Focus on Travel Immunisation, guidance for GPs,  published in November 2012.  To obtain a copy go to DOWNLOADS on the page here.  However on the main webpage it says it is a private vaccine for travel only. I have made enquiries regarding the discrepancy.  Of interest this is one of the vaccines in the NHS Consultation - see a short piece explaining this here.  

I think this is one of the travel vaccines most GP surgeries choose to charge their patients for but the confusion needs to be resolved one way or another.