Steve Dayman, founder of Meningitis Now, Gloucestershire, writes:

The UK's largest meningitis charity is delighted to reveal its new name – Meningitis Now – but stresses that the lifesaving fight continues.

The charity, launched last month after Meningitis UK and Meningitis Trust merged earlier this year, needs everyone to join its Beat it Now! campaign.

We want people to sign our petition and write to their MP to urge the Government to give all babies the new lifesaving Meningitis B vaccine on the NHS.

The UK has one of the highest Meningitis B incidence rates in the world – affecting an average of 1,870 people each year.

Meningitis B, the most common form of bacterial meningitis in the UK, kills one in 10 people, and one in three suffer life-changing after-effects such as limb loss and potential brain damage.

Any delay means more lives lost or left with after-effects, especially with cases dramatically peaking during winter.

The vaccine is one of the most significant developments in the fight and took decades to create.

But the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises the Government, delayed a decision to put it on the NHS, advising that it was not cost-effective.

Meningitis Now was asked to respond and replied by asking the JCVI to consider more than just treatment costs.

We want them to consider the costs of family bereavement support and survivors' after-care, from prosthetic limbs to lifelong support.