A MASS vaccination campaign to protect young people from a strain of the meningitis bug is to be launched in Warrington later this month.

Teenagers, aged between15 and 17, will be the first to benefit from the new vaccine for the meningitis C strain of the potentially fatal virus.

Immunisation will start in schools from Monday, November 15. Young people who have dropped out of school or who are in work will be targeted with special weekend and evening sessions.

Dr I L Omenaka, a consultant community paediatrician, is the immunisation co-ordinator for Warrington.

He said: "We are working from the most at risk group - which is teenagers - to the least.

"In the UK at the moment, 40 per cent of cases of meningitis are caused by the C strain. But people should still be vigilant because other strains are still around."

Dr Omenaka reassured concerned parents that any side effects from the vaccine were minor.

"There may be a slight swelling at the point of the injection. But any fever is no more serious than other vaccinations."

The immunisation drive will be extended to other age groups over the coming months.

From November 29, children aged two to three months will be given the vaccine along with their first set of injections.

Pre-school and primary children, together with teenagers not covered by the first wave of vaccinations, will receive it in the New Year.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.