A weekly editor has accused the National Health Service of discrimination as his paper joined a fight to get a meningitis vaccine made available to all children free of charge.

The Gloucestershire Gazette is backing a local charity’s campaign to get the meningitis B vaccine Bexsero available on the NHS.

Currently, it is free to babies under one, but otherwise costs £95 per dose from high street chemists and private clinics, with two or three doses required to treat the illness.

Editor Michael Purton described the current state of affairs as “ridiculous” and accused the NHS of age discrmination.

He told HTFP: “In Gloucestershire we’ve reported on a number of tragic cases where young people have lost their life to meningitis or been left severely disabled, so we know just how devastating the disease can be.

“With the leading charity in the fight against the virus, Meningitis Now, on our doorstep, it made sense to team up to bring their campaign to a wider audience.

“It’s ridiculous that the meningitis B vaccine is not available free to children born before May 2015. The disease does not discriminate, so why does the NHS?

“The vaccine should be free for all young people and we hope that our campaign with Meningitis Now will put extra pressure on Jeremy Hunt to do the right thing.”

The paper led with the campaign in this week’s issue which came out yesterday with further coverage on page five.

Stroud-based charity Meningitis Now launched its Give Children a Voice campaign last year to ensure those most at risk were heard.