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Indicator

The percentage of babies who reached 8 months old in the preceding 12 months, who have received 2 doses of a meningitis B vaccine before the age of 8 months.

Indicator type

General practice indicator suitable for use in the Quality and Outcomes Framework.

This document does not represent formal NICE guidance. For a full list of NICE indicators, see our menu of indicators.

To find out how to use indicators and how we develop them, see our NICE indicator process guide.

Rationale

Meningococcal disease can present as meningitis or septicaemia, and can have severe long-term complications. The UK Health Security Agency's meningococcal B: vaccine information for healthcare practitioners states that rates of disease are highest in children under 2 years of age. Their complete routine immunisation schedule from June 2020 states that 2 primary doses of the meningococcal group B (MenB) vaccine are due at 8 and 16 weeks old.

The indicator supports vaccination with MenB vaccine according to the routine immunisation schedule. Measurement by 8 months old ensures inclusion of babies who had a delay to vaccination due to illness with a fever but aims to achieve immunisation as early as possible.

Specification

Numerator: The number in the denominator who received 2 doses of a meningitis B vaccine before they reached 8 months old.

Denominator: The number of babies who reached 8 months old in the preceding 12 months.

Calculation: Numerator divided by denominator, multiplied by 100.

Exclusions: Babies with a meningitis B vaccination contraindicated code. See Public Heath England's meningococcal: the green book, chapter 22.

(Taken from NHS Digital's business rules for vaccination and immunisation programmes 2021/22 Meningococcal B [MenB] v6.0.)

Minimum population: The indicator would be appropriate to assess performance at individual general practice level.

ISBN: 978-1-4731-5987-7