LONDON, Nov 25: Britain is planning a new national immunisation programme to protect some 1.4 million children from a potentially deadly variety of meningitis, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Scientists want to immunise every child under the age of two against pneumococcal meningitis, one of the most disabling forms of the disease, the paper said, adding that this could prevent the deaths of up to 40 infants a year.

A new vaccine is being tested by the Public Health Laboratory Service with the results to be passed to the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in about 18 months.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “If it is recommended by the committee then it would be considered for introduction”.

Pneumococcal meningitis is a bacterial form of the disease, which affects the lining of the brain and can kill or leave victims with serious disabilities and brain damage.—AFP