A COUPLE from Newport whose son Jacob recovered from meningitis after nine days in intensive care and a month in hospital are campaigning for a new vaccine to be introduced.

Alison and Jason Wicks, from Newport went to the National Assembly for Wales last week to help launch the Meningitis UK/Meningitis Trust Beat it Now! Campaign in Wales.

The campaign is calling for the new meningitis B vaccine Bexsero to be available to all children on the NHS by 31 December 2013.

Mr and Mrs Wicks’ son Jacob, then nearly three, became ill on May 19 2008.

Mrs Wicks said: "We rushed him into the Gwent Hospital fearing the worst. The doctors and nurses weren’t really worried at first as he didn’t seem to have any of the symptoms associated with meningitis, but within 30 minutes Jacob was covered in spots and fighting for his life.

"On his release from hospital he was unable to sit up or stand and he has had to learn to walk again.

"We have since been told that if he had arrived in hospital 15 minutes later he wouldn’t have survived."

Bexsero is the first Meningitis B vaccine to be licensed for use in the UK.

The country has one of the highest Meningitis B incidence rates in the world, affecting an average of 1,870 people each year.

One in 10 people affected will die and one in four will be left with life-changing after-effects such as brain damage or limb loss.

Steve Dayman, founder of the charity, said: "It’s the most significant vaccine produced since the one for polio.

"The Government must introduce Bexsero into the Childhood Immunisation Schedule as soon as possible.

"The last major meningitis vaccine took five years to be included - we simply cannot wait that long.

The independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises the Government on vaccination, is suggesting whether Bexsero should be in the schedule. Its decision is set to be published later this month.

Studies show Bexsero, developed by Novartis, should protect against 73 per cent of Meningitis B strains in the UK.

For more information, visit www.beat-it-now.org