Pros and cons of vaccination against serogroup B meningococcal disease.

A vaccine has recently been approved in the EU against meningococcal serogroup B, the main cause of meningococcal disease. There is a fierce debate about the decision regarding a universal vaccination in infants older than 2 months, as recommended by the majority of scientific societies. In western Europe the only country to have included the universal vaccination is the United Kingdom, with a lower incidence of the disease than Ireland. Other countries have also adopted it, such as the Czech Republic, Cuba and certain regions of Italy. Numerous cost-effectiveness studies have been published regarding the vaccination with different assumptions, which have supported the decision not to implant the universal vaccination because it exceeds the will to pay for a health benefit. We discuss the pros and cons of the universal vaccination against meningococcal B, recommended by the Sociedad Española de Pediatría (Spanish Society of Paediatrics), which as yet has not been implemented.