Teenagers across the county are being invited to take part in a study to learn if vaccinating them against Meningitis B could help protect them and others from the infection.

A long-awaited vaccine cost effectiveness report was published earlier this year, two years on from the death of Maidstone toddler Faye Burdett, whose story helped spark more than 820,000 people to demand the government provide a jab for all children.

The NHS wants 24,000 volunteers aged 16 to 18 to take part in the trial, which will be taking place at 14 centres around the country, including Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

Bacteria in the throat can cause meningitis and septicaemia, both of which can be fatal or cause long lasting damage. The age groups most at risk of meningitis are babies, pre-school children and teenagers.

While 13 to 14-year-olds currently receive a vaccine against group A, C, W and Y meningococcus, immunisation against MenB is currently targeted at babies as they are at highest risk.

The study, which is entirely voluntary, will be recruiting over 18 months from April.

A research team from Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust will be going into local schools in Kent and Medway to visit Year 12 pupils who have volunteered to take part in the research.

So far, four schools have already signed up to participate in the study, including The Thomas Aveling School in Rochester, who lost 16-year-old pupil Hannah Evans to the infection in 2015.

Deputy head of sixth form Denise Humphrey said: "Thomas Aveling are really keen to be involved in supporting this research, particularly as we lost one of our Year 11 students very suddenly to meningitis just two years ago.

"It really rocked the school and of course her family and her loss is commemorated every year. We have also adopted a meningitis charity as one of our major school charities, so it seemed right for us to join in this important work in the hope that the data it provides may go some way to saving teenagers lives."

Stephanie McKinley, one of the research nurses who is going into schools added: "Taking part in this groundbreaking study is thrilling and gives our team the wonderful opportunity to go into our community and connect with young people in a meaningful way by introducing them to research and in particular to a project that is helping to spearhead the fight against Meningitis B."

All teenagers taking part in the study will receive two doses of a MenB vaccine and will have two throat swabs taken 12 months apart.

The research team will look to see if the vaccines reduce the numbers of students carrying the meningitis-causing bacteria in their throat.

The trial will take place in three groups using two licensed MenB vaccines, 4CMenB (Bexsero) and MenB-fHBP (Trumenba).

One group of 8,000 will get 4CMenB while another 8,000 will get MenB-fHBP. The vaccines will be given at the start of the study and six months later.

A further 8,000 youngsters will act as a ‘control group’ and not get the vaccine at first, so swabs can be taken 12 months apart and results compared to those who do get the vaccine, to examine the difference.

The control group will get the 4CMenB vaccine after they have had the swabs taken, so they benefit from the protection it provides.

Anyone in Kent who wants more information about the trial is asked to call the research and development department at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust on 01622 225627.