A POTENTIALLY life-saving vaccine against the most dangerous strain of meningitis has gone on sale in the North-East.

The Marton Pharmacy travel clinic in Stokesley Road, Middlesbrough, is thought to be the first in the North-East to offer courses of the Bexsero vaccine.

But despite calls from campaigners for the vaccine to be made available on the NHS Bexsero is only available privately at £135 a dose.

This means that a course of four injections for a child between two and six months at the Marton Pharmacy clinic would cost £540.

Children aged between six months and two years would need three doses and children over two and adults would need two doses.

Dr Jenny Wasson, a former GP who operates the travel clinic, said: “The incidence of meningitis B is about 1,800 cases a year and of those a fifth will die and a quarter will have serious impairments.”

While the vaccine is costly Dr Wasson argued that it was more cost- effective for the NHS to avoid meningitis B cases in the first place.

“As someone with six grandchildren and another on the way I would like to make this vaccine more widely available,” she added.

Sarah Lockey, from Black Hill, near Consett, County Durham, whose daughter, Tilly, now eight, had to have both her hands amputated after she developed septicaemia caused by meningitis B, said while she felt strongly that the new vaccine should be available on the NHS she could understand why some parents might be tempted to go private.

She said: “A lot of parents I have spoken to have said even if it was offered privately they would probably go for it because meningitis B is such a scary disease.”

A spokesman for Meningitis Now said: “This is the first meningitis B vaccine of its kind and it covers up to 88 per cent of all strains.”

He said the charity believed that it was impossible to put a price on a young life and that the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt should back the introduction of the recently licensed vaccine.

Yesterday supporters of Meningitis Now handed in a 36,000 name petition – signed by many doctors – calling on Mr Hunt to offer the vaccine on the NHS.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is currently reviewing its decision last year not to recommend the Bexsero vaccine on the NHS.