Rosie Duffield

Rosie Duffield

Independent — Canterbury

Speaking in the House of Commons on 17 March 2026

Debate

Meningitis Outbreak

Contribution

I thank the Secretary of State and his team for their engagement with this awful situation in Canterbury. As he can imagine, all in my constituency have been devastated by the tragic death of Juliette Kenny and another student from this cruel disease, and I thank my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Whately), for her lovely tribute to my constituent. We have been inundated by questions from extremely worried constituents, and the Secretary of State has answered some of them in his statement. The main question has been about the roll-out of the vaccine, and I was really pleased to hear that that will happen soon. Worried parents and vulnerable students are telling me that communications from their education settings are not consistently clear, and one school has been closed to those in year 13. What is the Secretary of State’s message about attendance in person? There are reports from medics on the frontline in the hubs that the service has been overwhelmed by requests for antibiotics, with people presenting with mild colds and coughs. Will the Secretary of State make very clear once again exactly why and when people should turn up? The time for addressing the concerns about the roll-out of information is not now, but hopefully we can drill down on that when this horrible event is over.

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