The parents of a 20-year-old student who died after contracting meningitis B at university have called for greater protection for young people against the infection. Sophie Ward died with 'blood oozing from her eyes' hours after being misdiagnosed with flu at an A&E department and discharged.
Sophie and her mother had rushed to Barnet Hospital on the advice of 111, telling medics her symptoms fitted those of meningitis. At 2am the next morning, she was violently sick with a temperature of 39.4C. She was rushed back to hospital but died around 12 hours later, on July 31, 2023.
Her father, Paul Ward, said the government needs to step up amid an outbreak in Kent that killed two students last week. Juliette Kenny, 18, died on March 14, and a 21-year-old University of Kent student also died in the outbreak linked to Club Chemistry nightclub in Canterbury.
Nearly three years after Sophie's death, Mr Ward said he did not realise his daughter was not fully protected because she had jabs for strains A, C, W and Y as a teen. The meningitis B jab was introduced on the NHS for babies in 2015, meaning most young people born before then are not protected unless they had it privately.
Mr Ward said: 'Young people and their parents don't realise they aren't protected against meningitis B. The government has allowed that state of affairs to persist.' An inquest heard Sophie should have been seen within 15 minutes when first admitted to A&E, but was seen two hours later.
