Search
20 Mar 2026
Search
20 Mar 2026
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Health officials are expected to face questions after more than 100 students in Kent were turned away while trying to get a meningitis vaccine on Thursday.
On Friday, health partners are due to attend a media briefing in the county on the latest updates regarding the deadly outbreak.
The University of Kent said it had closed the vaccine queue on its Canterbury campus “due to capacity” on Thursday because it needed to finish the clinic by 5pm.
More than 100 people who had been waiting for a jab were turned away, according to Press Association estimates of the queue size.
The university said the vaccination clinic will reopen on Friday from 9am to 5pm, and advised people to be in the queue by 2pm.
More vaccination centres are also due to open across Kent as the Government’s immunisation programme expands.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said anyone who attended local venue Club Chemistry from March 5 until March 15 would be offered the jab, alongside sixth-formers at four schools and other university students in Canterbury.
One facility, located at Faversham Health Centre, will begin administering jabs at 9am on Friday and will remain open through Saturday, while additional clinics are scheduled to open on Friday at the Vicarage Lane Clinic in Ashford and at the University of Kent, NHS England has said.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that as of 5pm on Wednesday, 15 cases of meningitis have been confirmed and a further 12 are under investigation.
This takes the total to 27 cases of either confirmed or suspected meningitis, up from 20 on Wednesday. Two students have died in the outbreak.
Currently, nine of the 15 confirmed cases are known to be caused by menB.
The UKHSA said all patients eligible for antibiotics will now be able to request a vaccination and antibiotics “from their local GP immediately – wherever they are in England”. This covers students who have travelled home.
More than 8,500 antibiotics and 1,600 vaccines have now been given to eligible people in Kent amid the meningitis outbreak.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
