Young adults, particularly university students, remain at increased risk from meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia, with new figures showing that Meningitis B (MenB) was responsible for 97% of invasive meningococcal disease cases in 15 to 24-year-olds (93 of 96 cases) in England during 2025 to 2026.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is continuing to urge new university students to ensure they are protected with two doses. Students in their first year of university face a risk of meningococcal disease around seven times higher than young people of a similar age who do not go to university.
The new data, published in the Invasive Meningococcal Disease (IMD) report for England, also shows that MenB was the leading cause of the disease across almost all age groups under 25, including infants (92%, 34 of 37) and one- to four-year-olds (100%, 35 of 35).
These figures for younger children also underline the importance of parents ensuring infants receive their three MenB vaccines on time as part of the routine Childhood Programme. Timely vaccination remains the best protection against MenB in the early years of life, when children are also at high risk of infection.
Invasive Meningococcal Disease can be serious, with 26 deaths recorded among the 348 total IMD confirmed cases during the year.
In March 2026, an unprecedented Meningitis B outbreak in Kent was associated with 21 cases in students and other young people in the Canterbury area. This was followed by two further MenB outbreaks, each involving three or more cases, in Dorset and in Berkshire. The outbreaks tragically caused three deaths and some of those who survived the infections are now facing life-long health consequences.
In response to these outbreaks, a one-off, time-limited MenB vaccination programme was launched this summer, targeting those at highest immediate risk of MenB disease, primarily school leavers and first-year university and higher education undergraduates.
The NHS has given 246,089 doses of the MenB vaccine (as of 31 August 2026) to young people, but thousands more school leavers and first-year undergraduates remain eligible ahead of freshers’ week.
Dr Shamez Ladhani, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA, said: “University is an exciting time, but it’s also when young people are at greater risk of meningococcal disease due to close, prolonged contact with lots of new people, and today’s figures show just how real that risk is. These figures also reinforce how valuable the routine childhood MenB vaccine has been in protecting our infants, and I’d encourage all parents to make sure their children receive all three doses on time as part of their routine vaccinations.”
In addition to MenB, meningococcal A, C, W and Y are also causes of meningitis and septicaemia in young people. The MenACWY vaccine is routinely offered to teenagers as part of the school immunisation programme. All teenagers remain eligible for MenACWY vaccination until their 25th birthday.