Health experts recommend parents to administer infant paracetamol to babies after the administration of meningitis vaccine to alleviate fever, which may likely occur following the immunization.
The advice of giving paracetamol to babies came after the UK government had lately agreed to give out meningitis B vaccine to babies for free.
The Public Health England (PHE) emphasized that fever is only a temporary effect of the vaccine and that this clinical manifestation does not outweigh the protective benefits of vaccine against meningitis and septicemia, which may result in severe complications such as amputations and even death. Fever may pose concerns for parents, hence, it is vital for them to be fully informed of the short-lived feature of the clinical symptom, says Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE. More than anything, the vaccine will provide protection to young children at a time when they are most vulnerable.
Fever is a common occurrence after the administration of any type of vaccine, but is more rampant if the meningitis B vaccine is given alongside other vaccines that are due for the same period of time, Ramsay adds. If paracetamol is not administered, more than 50 percent of the infants may develop high temperatures after the immunization. According to her, the fever may peak after about six hours following the vaccination, but may disappear within two days.
The occurrence of fever signifies that the immune system of the baby is exhibiting a response. However, parents should be aware that the level of fever may vary per child and that this is not be indicative of how much the vaccine may be able to protect the child.
Parents may administer paracetamol soon after the vaccination has been given. Waiting for fever to develop before giving the medicine is not necessary as doing so will only increase the risk of babies to develop high body temperatures by more than 50 percent. If paracetamol is given in a timely manner, only about one in five children will develop fever, majority of which will be mild in severity. Paracetamol is also an analgesic and thus may also decrease pain and discomfort at the injection site.
In March 2014, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation deemed that meningitis B vaccine should be offered to UK children at two, four and 12 months. However, it took one year for the government to negotiate the price from drug manufacturers. The vaccine that will be utilized in the national immunization program is called Bexsero and will be coming from British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.
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