00:00The unprecedented meningitis outbreak in Canterbury has ended its second day of response.
00:05While the campus felt quiet today, the spread continued. Year 13 is that two more schools
00:10have tested positive for the infection, while two more specialist schools have been forced to close.
00:14After Covid, it's kind of prepared you for all this stuff, but it is still a little bit scary.
00:20Every day we're learning new things, we're still kind of getting in the loop.
00:23It's kind of scary, but at least the university is doing something and everyone's also trying to
00:28make their part to not make this into a really big thing, pandemic or something.
00:33I'm trying to give the benefit of the doubt to the university that they're doing the best they can
00:36with the resources that they have. Of course, this is not really a usual situation,
00:41so they're going to be making mistakes just like some of us are going to be making mistakes.
00:44This is what the UK Health Security Agency, the ones managing the situation, had to say.
00:49This is a really serious infection and this is a particularly large outbreak.
00:53It is important to recognise, however, that we can provide people who've been in close contact with
01:02cases a dose of antibiotic called ciprofloxacin. Once we have taken those actions,
01:08we will consider that the risk to students will be significantly reduced.
01:14The Health Secretary has called the situation unprecedented.
01:18News has just come out of Parliament that all young people living on campus here will soon be offered the
01:22MenBee vaccine. That's a strain that's been going around the campus and the rest of the city.
01:28Routine MenBee vaccines were not handed out until post-2015, so many of the young people here
01:33may never have come into contact with it.
01:35MenBee vaccination. It's not normally given to this age group, but because of these specific
01:40circumstances, it will be offered like the Secretary of State says. The important thing to note is that
01:48the vaccine doesn't prevent the spread the way I just said about the chemo prophylaxis.
01:54That is what does that, the antibiotics. This is for the onward risk. So it's basically protecting
02:01people from in future getting it. While on campus, I met a group of boys who've been at Club Chemistry
02:07on
02:07March 7. They told me about how they felt about the vaccines. I feel like people should be offered it
02:12if
02:12they can prove they went to chemistry. It's just the difficulty. There's thousands of people who are
02:18in Canterbury that night, hundreds of people in chemistry. I mean, it's definitely in the right
02:23direction. At least some people are being offered it. If the vaccine was being offered to any of you
02:28guys, would you take it? Yes. It's just not worth the risk to not get the antibiotics or not to
02:36get
02:36vaccinated, even if you aren't showing major symptoms or a lot of symptoms. It's just playing it safe.
02:41In light of the rollout of meningitis vaccines in the coming days, the government says it will now
02:45look again at the eligibility rules for the vaccines. Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Canterbury.
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