FOR parents who lost a child to the infection, the Government's point blank refusal last week to vaccinate every child against meningitis B and potentially prevent scores of unnecessary deaths purely based on cost was a cruel blow.

In the wake of the death of two-year-old Faye Burdett to meningitis on Valentine’s Day, more than 816,000 people signed a petition calling for the jab to be given to all children, not just babies.

But the Department of Health said their priority was to give the Bexsero vaccine to children considered most at risk from meningitis B. In a statement it explained it was following guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises the Government on the cost-effectiveness of vaccinations.

"The NHS budget is a finite resource," the statement read. "It is therefore essential that JCVI's recommendations are underpinned by evidence of cost-effectiveness. Offering the vaccine outside of JCVI's advice would not be cost effective, and would not therefore represent a good use of NHS resources which should be used to benefit the health and care of the most people possible.

"While this is extremely difficult for parents whose children aren't eligible, there is no other way of establishing new programmes to target those at highest risk without introducing inequalities.

"As the UK, we are proud to have been the first– and to date the only - country in the world to introduce a national, publicly-funded MenB immunisation programme for infants using the Bexsero vaccine. We are leading the world in offering children protection from this devastating disease."

Currently the vaccine is available on the NHS for babies aged two months, followed by a second dose at four months and a booster at 12 months. Parents who wish to have older children vaccinated must pay privately, although a worldwide shortage of the vaccine Bexsero means stocks are very low.

Its manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, hopes to have increased stocks in the UK by the summer.

Scottie Kern, from Oakhurst, who lost his 11-month-old son Cailan to pneumococcal meningitis in 2009 called the decision disappointing but not surprising.

"When I look at it as a parent it's sad," said the father-of-three. "I look at baby Faye and think of her parents who looked at their precious daughter coming to the end of her life when she was fine two days before - there's something that could have stopped this."

Scottie understands better than most the frustration and helplessness of watching a child slip away when a simple vaccination could have prevented it.

In a sad twist of fate, he had spent five years working on the clinical trials for an inoculation against Cailan's strand of the disease when he died. But the jab was only made available a year later.

"In an ideal world this would be universally administered but we don't live in an ideal world," he added. "I'm not a all surprised by what the Department of Health have said. If I put my scientist hat on I fully understand where they are coming from."

The 44-year-old clinical technology consultant was one of thousands to back the campaign to include the MenB jab in the childhood immunisation schedule back in 2011.

It had previously been ruled out due to cost. But following negotiations with the laboratory behind the vaccine, in June 2015, it was announced that the jab would be given to all babies when they reached two months of age.

"It's only through the efforts and dedication of campaigners and paediatricians, and because GSK offered a reduction in the asking price that we got it in the schedule in the first place," he said. "And we are still not really sure how effective it even is now. I personally believe that it will work but we need to look at where it's going to do the most good."

Meningitis is the inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord.

It is usually bacterial or viral.

Viral meningitis can be very unpleasant but it is almost never life-threatening and most people quickly make a full recovery. 10 per cent of bacterial cases result in death.

Meningitis can strike quickly, but its impact can last a lifetime.

One in three of those who survive bacterial meningitis are left with after-effects, many of which are severe, such as brain damage, hearing and sight loss, and where septicaemia (blood poisoning) has occurred, loss of limbs and scarring.

Bacterial meningitis kills more UK children under the age of five than any other infectious disease.

Meningitis Research Foundation said it would continue to fight to get all children vaccinated.

"Although we understand that the NHS budget is finite, we argue that the current cost effectiveness rules undervalue the prevention of severe illness in childhood," said a spokesman.

"There is evidence that the public prefer prevention over cure, and would rather prevent death or severe disability in a few than mild illness among many people. But the rules do not reflect these preferences. Meningitis is every parent’s nightmare. And the government’s cost effectiveness calculations simply do not take this level of public concern into account. They must, or the MenB vaccine and future childhood vaccines for less common, severe illnesses will always face an uphill struggle."

The charity is also calling on Government to back a study to show whether immunising teenagers could protect all age groups, as has been the case for other meningitis vaccines.

Vinny Smith, chief executive of MRF, added: "The demand for this vaccine is clear. This is an exceptional disease, with exceptional fear associated with it. For every parent who worries this could touch their family, 400 cases of meningitis each year is simply 400 too many.”

To find out more about meningitis and its symptoms go to www.meningitis.org.