Should we plan a general childhood vaccination against bacterial meningitis?

An estimation of the benefits of vaccination against bacterial meningitis are based on the age-specific incidence of meningitis caused by the different groups of meningococci, by Haemophilus influenzae and by pneumococci, and the known efficacy of the present polysaccharide vaccines against these agents. Since the incidence of bacterial meningitis is more than ten times higher below the age of five years that at a later age, vaccination at 1 1/2 years of age could prevent a large fraction of all cases.