{"id":27229,"date":"2026-03-18T12:51:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/meningitis-cases-rises-to-20-in-fatal-kent-outbreak-amid-surging-demand-for-private-jabs\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T17:30:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T17:30:40","slug":"meningitis-cases-rises-to-20-in-fatal-kent-outbreak-amid-surging-demand-for-private-jabs","status":"publish","type":"the-bmj-article","link":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/meningitis-cases-rises-to-20-in-fatal-kent-outbreak-amid-surging-demand-for-private-jabs\/","title":{"rendered":"Meningitis: Cases rises to 20 in fatal Kent outbreak amid surging demand for private jabs"},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"content_type":[32],"editorial_panel":[],"channel_page":[43],"class_list":["post-27229","the-bmj-article","type-the-bmj-article","status-publish","hentry","article-type-news","channel-page-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"meta_box":{"the_bmj_article-url":"\/content\/392\/bmj.s526","the_bmj_article-description":"Five further cases of meningitis have been identified in the outbreak in Kent that has left two young people dead","the_bmj_article-the_bmj_article_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"file":"2026\/03\/Meningitis_University_kent_vaccine_3E2431N-copy.jpg","filesize":133767,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"Meningitis_University_kent_vaccine_3E2431N-copy-300x194.jpg","width":300,"height":194,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":36681,"url":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Meningitis_University_kent_vaccine_3E2431N-copy-300x194.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"file":"Meningitis_University_kent_vaccine_3E2431N-copy-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":24619,"url":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Meningitis_University_kent_vaccine_3E2431N-copy-150x150.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"Alamy Stock Photo","camera":"","caption":"3E2431N Students wait in line at the entrance to the sports hall at University of Kent campus in Canterbury, where the rollout of a meningitis B vaccine to about 5,000 students has begun. 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