The UK Meningitis Outbreak

There’s another outbreak. This time it is in the UK, and this time it is meningitis. The outbreak is about 20 cases in college students. Sadly, two students died.  The entire outbreak at Kent University in the UK is being described as a rare, unprecedented event. At the time of this writing, 29 total cases are reported from two universities and four other schools in Kent. Eighteen (18) are confirmed cases with 11 suspected cases. Some of the cases have been identified as Meningitis B (MenB). All students with confirmed cases have been hospitalized.

About MenB

Bacterial meningitis is rarer but much more serious than the milder form of viral meningitis. The B strain is the most common seen in the UK but physicians there usually see it in young children, and not in university-age adults. Babies in the UK are vaccinated against MenB.

The disease usually shows general cold-like symptoms (headache, fever, etc.) early, but it can spread quickly and the person’s health can rapidly worsen. Later symptoms are neck stiffness, drowsiness, and a rash that won’t go away.

The disease is contagious and spreads through close contact, such as kissing, sneezing, coughing and vaping. Some people never get ill but hold the virus in the nose or throat, passing it to others.

Naturally, the UK media is reporting that MenB has historically accounted for over 80% of invasive infections, since vaccination made other forms much rarer. The MenB vaccine was introduced in the UK in 2015, with reports that MenB infections have been reduced by about 75% in those immunized. However, anyone in the UK over the age of 11 has not been protected unless their parents paid for the vaccine privately. Vaccines for strains A, W, Y and C were available to those aged 14 with boosters (sometimes called “top-up” jabs in the UK) available up to the age of 25.

Here Come the Vaccines

The University of Kent campus is a ghost town. Students are locking themselves in their rooms, afraid to go out. The only people visible on campus are long lines of masked students waiting for precautionary antibiotics which are being distributed by school health personnel. The entire scene is eerily reminiscent of the COVID-19 lockdown era. The students say they have been traumatized by the event. The government cancelled St. Patrick’s Day events and took other measures eerily similar to the COVID era.

Naturally, the ultimate solution in the UK is to vaccinate 5,000 students. And of course, the UK government is going to review the general eligibility of the vaccination for Meningitis B. There is also a huge uptick in the number of people seeking the vaccine from private providers.

A 22-year-old male was the first to receive the university-offered jab, saying it gave him peace of mind before heading home to Brighton. Sound familiar? It is eerie that this outbreak occurred almost 6 years to the day of the COVID 2020 outbreak where many US university students went home for spring break and never returned to campus. This age group represents a gap of vaccination. As children, most college-age UK kids have not ever received the meningitis jab because it was not offered before 2015.

These kids would have been teens during COVID, and that is an age group that had low turnout for receiving the COVID jab. In short, this is a relatively unvaccinated cohort of people. This has left some UK residents to speculate on social media whether the UK government is intentionally targeting this age group to make sure they have nanotechnology injected into their bodies. Pandemic exercises like the UK 2016 Exercise Pegasus only included respiratory viruses; a meningitis outbreak was not simulated.

When asked about why the UK added MenB in 2015 to their infant schedule, a physician said the quiet part out loud: “MenB jabs could protect babies for three to five years.” Right, so even if these Kent students had been vaccinated, they would only be protected until age 5 (without top-ups, as the British say.)

Dr. Tenpenny always goes back to the one question about any vaccine that really matters: Is it safe AND effective?

Here’s what she had to say on the matter when responding to a viewer question on her Morning Coffee podcast: “Let’s be clear: the push to mandate this meningitis vaccine across states is built more on fear than on facts. Meningococcal disease is rare—very rare. In fact, the number of reported cases during the period I last reviewed was in the low 20s nationwide. And not a single one occurred in the 5–18 age group. Here’s what they don’t tell parents: the antibodies from the shot only last about two years. So we’re injecting teenagers with something that’s short-lived, for a condition they’re statistically unlikely to encounter. That’s not prevention. That’s marketing.”