The NHS is rolling out the first vaccination program to fight gonorrhoea.
This is on-schedule as per an earlier declaration the NHS made, saying that it would roll out the vaccine come August, as a result of a record number of gonorrhoea cases and increasingly antibiotic-resistant strains.
It will be available for free at sexual health clinic, particularly for those at highest risk – queer men. The vaccine is based on an existing vaccine, 4CMenB, for meningococcal B disease.
Gonorrhoea diagnoses reached 85,000 in 2023, which is the highest record since 1918, when records were opened, and triple from 2012.
Gonorrhoea is the second most common bacterial STI, after Chlamydia.
It is important to understand that this vaccine is presently between 32.7% to 42% effective against transmission.
Upon appointment for this jab, patients are also offered jabs for mpox, HPV, and hepatitis A and B.
