A CATCH-UP vaccination programme costing £23,000 will affect about 1,400 children in Guernsey. Youngsters born between 13 March 2003 and 30 September 2005 will be offered the Hib vaccine, which has dramatically reduced cases of infectious meningitis.

The children missed out on it the first time because they were either too young to receive it in 2003, or too old to get a Hib and meningitis C booster then.

Director of public health Dr David Jeffs said one of the reasons for making people aware of the vaccination was so that nobody questioned why some families were affected and not others.

‘The children should be coming along for their pre-school check-ups anyway so it’s just something that’s been offered in addition to this.

‘The families in question will receive personal invitations explaining what it’s all about and there will also be a contact phone number if they have any questions.’

The catch-up programme was announced by the Department of Health in the UK and starts on Monday.

The Guernsey Immunisation Advisory Group decided that local children would benefit from the same scheme and the initiative has been supported by the Health and Social Services Department.

Dr Jeffs said that it was crucial to make sure children here have the same opportunities as those in the UK.

‘This is especially true because people move around a lot more these days,’ he said.

‘Many families will move to Guernsey to live and a large number of people will go to study at university in the UK.

‘We don’t do everything the UK does, but we are doing this.’

* Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (Hib) is a bacterial infection which can cause meningitis, septicaemia, epiglotitis and pneumonia.