Pharmacies in Reading are facing surging interest in meningitis vaccines following an outbreak in the area.
The UK National Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Thursday, May 14, that one young person had died with meningitis in the Reading area and two more were receiving treatment.
In the wake of the outbreak, staff at pharmacies in Reading town centre told the Chronicle they are experiencing a surge in the number of people trying to book appointments for meningitis vaccines.
Inside the Boots pharmacy on Broad Street, pharmacist Sarina Khosla said she has "definitely" seen an increased amount of interest in the vaccines.
The 30-year-old, who has worked at the pharmacy for the past seven years, estimated her team answered roughly 50 calls about the vaccines the day after the Reading meningitis cases were announced.
The Broad Street Boots doesn't even offer a vaccination service, so Sarina and her staff have been signposting callers to the other Boots branch inside the nearby Oracle shopping centre.
"I know my colleagues [at the Oracle Boots] are also saturated with calls."
The meningitis cases in Reading come mere months after an outbreak of meningitis B (menB) in Kent earlier this year took the lives of two young people and hospitalised about a dozen others.
The Kent outbreak also saw a spike in demand for the menB vaccine, to the extent that pharmacies started running out of stock.
Sarina told the Chronicle she thinks supply numbers for the menB vaccine are still an issue.
At least one of the Reading cases has been confirmed as menB, although it is not exactly the same strain as the Kent outbreak.
While the menB vaccine is offered to babies by the NHS, most people over the age of two who want the vaccine must pay to do so through private clinics and pharmacies.
The NHS menB vaccine programme for babies was also only introduced in 2015, meaning people born earlier may not have had it.
The NHS does offer teenagers (and anyone up to the age of 25 if they missed it at school) the menACWY vaccine, which protects against four other strains of meningitis.
Petra, who works behind the counter at the Superdrug pharmacy on Broad Street, told the Chronicle on Friday, May 15, that people had been calling "literally all day" to ask about meningitis vaccines, with about one caller every ten minutes - "much more than normal".
Inside the Boots branch in the Oracle shopping centre on the same afternoon, a long queue of people stood in line by the pharmacy counter.
One customer at the pharmacy, Joanne Wenman, told the Chronicle she had come to get her menB vaccine after booking the appointment months ago following the Kent outbreak.
Joanne said she had decided to get the vaccine because she works in a school and because a member of her family is immunocompromised.
After the Reading cases were discovered, health authorities advised young people to check that their vaccinations are up to date.
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It has been confirmed that the young person who died was a student at Henley College in Oxfordshire, while the two students receiving treatment attend schools in Reading.
Close contacts of the three cases have been offered antibiotics as a precaution, the UKHSA said, while information on the symptoms of meningitis infection have been passed to students and parents at all affected schools.
Symptoms can include a high temperature, severe headache, vomiting, stiff neck, sensitivity to light, confusion, drowsiness, cold hands and feet, severe muscle pain and a rash that does not fade under pressure.
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