Twelve people in Ireland died from meningitis B between 2021 and 2025, a figure that underscores the severity of the infection as an outbreak of the disease impacts students in Kent, England.
The deaths in Ireland, occurring over a five-year period, highlight the potential lethality of the B strain of the disease, even as health officials in Ireland state there is currently no evidence of an increase in cases or a link to the Kent outbreak. According to the UK Health Security Agency, the outbreak in Kent has involved 27 confirmed cases, with two young people having died. All confirmed cases are young adults, a demographic that missed out on early vaccination programs.
The meningitis B vaccine was only introduced as part of the standard vaccination program in Ireland in 2016, leaving a cohort of teenagers and young adults vulnerable. Dr. Niamh Lynch, a paediatrician at the Bon Secours hospital in Cork, has questioned why the vaccine is not routinely offered to this age group. “You have a cohort of people who are now coming into their teenage and university years, who are wide open and have no protection against meningitis B, though they do have protection against A, C, W and Y [strains],” she said. She argued that the cost of the vaccine is a barrier, despite the risk of outbreaks, and fatalities.
The outbreak in Kent is centered around students at the University of Kent and other schools, with cases linked to a nightclub called Club Chemistry, which has since closed. As of March 18th, 2026, approximately 5,000 students at the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus were being offered the meningitis B vaccine, alongside courses of antibiotics. Five novel cases were reported on that date, bringing the total under investigation to 20, with nine confirmed and eleven still being investigated. Six of the confirmed cases are the meningitis B strain.
Health officials in Ireland and Europe have stressed the risk of the Kent outbreak spreading to Ireland is exceptionally low. However, Dr. Lynch points to the close proximity of young people in social settings as a potential risk factor. “They’re in big lecture halls, all crowded in together, they’re in nightclubs, they’re sharing vapes, they’re close together,” she noted. She also advised against sharing vapes, citing them as a potential transmission route.
In the UK, a letter to University of Kent students indicated the vaccine would be available to eligible students on campus throughout the week. It remains unclear how students who have already left campus will access the vaccine, though they are advised to contact their general practitioner.
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