Meningitis moves fast. So does misinformation - but only one of them has a vaccine |
Meningitis is one of the most feared conditions in medicine.
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It can take hold with terrifying speed, moving from mild symptoms to life-threatening illness in hours.
That is why the recent outbreak and the death of a young student are so profoundly distressing. My thoughts are with all the victims, their friends, and the wider student community affected.
Some (but not all) of the causes of meningitis are preventable.
We have safe and effective vaccines against several of the most dangerous forms of meningitis. And yet, as with other infectious diseases, vaccine uptake is slipping in parts of the UK.
Meningitis is a serious disease. It can cause brain injury, hearing loss, limb loss, and death, sometimes within hours. The anti-vax rhetoric that lingers behind stories such as this is not benign. Infections spreading due to low vaccination rates are not distant, theoretical risks. This is a time where we must allow science to prevail and lead the discussion about our course of action - not scaremongering nor laying blame at any individual’s door.
As a veterinary surgeon who has worked on disease control projects around the world, I find the growing distrust of vaccines in the West deeply alarming.
Vaccination has eradicated diseases from the face of the earth. Smallpox alone killed hundreds of millions of people before it was eliminated. Vaccines have saved more lives than almost any other medical intervention in history.
And yet we are seeing parts of our political culture drift towards hostility towards expertise.
At moments like this, clear public health messaging matters. But we are operating in a political environment where trust in science is being actively eroded.
There is a growing anti-science current in populist politics, in both the UK and the United States. At Reform’s 2025 conference, Aseem Malhotra was given a platform to promote unsubstantiated claims linking Covid vaccines to cancer. He now advises Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a central figure in an openly anti-vaccine agenda in the United States.
This is not just about one conference or one speaker. It reflects something deeper: the deliberate blurring of evidence.
We have already seen what happens when governments treat public health expertise as disposable.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, scientific advice was too often bent around political convenience, and trust was further damaged when Boris Johnson’s administration failed to follow the very rules it imposed.
The consequences were real: economic strain, weakened public confidence, and a deeper cynicism about institutions.
Trust in vaccines did not collapse overnight. It eroded over time under sustained attack from figures with large platforms, whose opinions are expressed loudly and confidently, regardless of the evidence.
Let’s be clear: Reform platforming an anti-vaxxer is not just bizarre, it is deeply irresponsible and could be fatal. Other diseases like measles have lost their elimination status - and recently, a child in Liverpool died due to this disease.
When Reform or other politicians promote dangerous anti-vax sentiments, they do not simply undermine science, research and healthcare systems, they actively put children at risk.
Vaccines are the closest thing we have to a safety blanket from disease. We must not allow divisive and dangerous figures online to exploit the tragedy of two young deaths in Kent as a means of rebutting science and evidence-led healthcare.
Science provides solutions, answers and evidence. Politics determines whether they are used. We urgently need more scientists in politics - especially at a time when basic scientific principles are under threat.
Dr Danny Chambers is the Liberal Democrat MP for Winchester.
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