{"id":54048,"date":"2026-06-09T19:07:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T19:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/?p=54048"},"modified":"2026-06-10T15:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T15:43:08","slug":"ukhsa-guidance-continues-to-recommend-4cmenb-vaccine-against-gonorrhea-in-gay-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/54048","title":{"rendered":"UKHSA continues to recommend 4CMenB vaccine against gonorrhea in gay men"},"content":{"rendered":"

Simon Collins, HIV i-Base<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 31 May 2026, UKHSA published new guidance on the continued use of the 4CMenB vaccine in a sexual health programme aimed to reduce the incidence of gonorrhoea in gay and bisexual men. [1]<\/strong><\/p>\n

The guidance is needed because two months ago results from the large Australian GoGoVax trial, presented at CROI 2026, failed to show any protection in almost 600 gay and bisexual men randomised to either vaccine or placebo. [2]<\/p>\n

The lively Q&A debate after the presentation divided opinion. Many scientists thought that this data \u2013 the third RCT to not show a benefit \u2013 provided conclusive evidence on the lack of effect. Others, including the study presenter, cautiously want to wait for results from other ongoing studies in the hope they might support observational studies that have shown small but significant benefits.<\/p>\n

The controversy is important, because last year NHS England launched a high-profile campaign to provide the vaccine to gay and bisexual men, after a recommendation by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). [3, 4]<\/p>\n

Efficacy is currently supported by several meta-analyses, which report a 33% to 47% efficacy in US, Canadian and Australian studies. [5, 6, 7]<\/p>\n

The three randomised controlled studies showing no benefit are the Australian GoGoVax, the smaller (n=130) MenGo studies and the French DOXYVAC study (n=544) in gay and bisexual men in Paris. [2, 8, 9]<\/p>\n

comment<\/h3>\n

Although UKHSA is continuing to monitor the effectiveness of the UK programme and will inform JCVI of early results, a likely timeline for this is not included in the analysis plans. [10]<\/strong><\/p>\n

The JCVI hasn\u2019t commented since CROI, but an oral presentation at the BHIVA\/BASHH conference in April reported that uptake of the vaccine has so far been very very high, but didn\u2019t include efficacy data. [11]<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the online BHIVA feedback webinars after CROI, several UK doctors took a more cautious approach of waiting for further data before continuing to recommend either first or second doses of the vaccine. [12]<\/strong><\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. UKHSA guidance. The national gonorrhoea vaccination programme using 4CMenB vaccine: frequently asked questions. (19 May 2026).
    \nhttps:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/the-national-gonorrhoea-vaccination-programme-using-4cmenb-vaccine-frequently-asked-questions\/national-gonorrhoea-vaccination-programme-using-4cmenb-vaccine-frequently-asked-questions<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. CROI 2026: Australian study of 4CMenB vaccine fails to protect gay men against gonorrhoea. HTB (10 March 2026).
    \n    https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/53465<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. DHSC independent report. JCVI advice on the use of meningococcal B vaccination for the prevention of gonorrhoea. (10 November 2023).
    \n    https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/meningococcal-b-vaccination-for-the-prevention-of-gonorrhoea-jcvi-advice-10-november\/jcvi-advice-on-the-use-of-meningococcal-b-vaccination-for-the-prevention-of-gonorrhoea<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. UKHSA guidance. 4CMenB vaccine for prevention of gonorrhoea: information for healthcare practitioners. (8 July 2025).
    \n    https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/4cmenb-vaccine-for-gonorrhoea-information-for-healthcare-practitioners\/4cmenb-vaccine-for-prevention-of-gonorrhoea-information-for-healthcare-practitioners<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Ladhani SN et al. Use of a meningococcal group B vaccine (4CMenB) in populations at high risk of gonorrhoea in the UK. Lancet Inf Dis. DOI: 10.1016\/S1473-3099(24)00031-8. (20 March 2024)
    \n    https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/laninf\/article\/PIIS1473-3099(24)00031-8\/fulltext<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Wang, Bing et al. Vaccine effectiveness and impact of meningococcal vaccines against gonococcal infections:<\/a> A systematic review and meta-analysis Journal of Infection, Journal of Infection. volume 89, issue 3, 106225. 2024.
    \n    https:\/\/www.journalofinfection.com\/article\/S0163-4453(24)00159-2\/fulltext<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Wang et al. Long-term\u00a04CMenB<\/abbr>\u00a0Vaccine Effectiveness Against Gonococcal Infection at Four Years Post\u2013Program Implementation:<\/a> Observational Case\u2013Control Study, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, volume 12, issue 1, January 2025.
    \n    https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/ofid\/article\/12\/1\/ofae726\/7922952<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Thng, C, Eskandari, S, Jin, F et al.<\/i>\u00a0Efficacy of the meningococcal vaccine against\u00a0Neisseria gonorrhoeae: a randomised clinical trial (MenGO).\u00a0npj Vaccines (2026).
    \n    https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41541-026-01422-y<\/a><\/li>\n
  9. Molina J-M et al. Doxycycline prophylaxis and meningococcal group B vaccine to prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections in France (ANRS 174 DOXYVAC): a multicentre open-label randomised trial with a 2\u2008\u00d7\u20082 factorial design. Lancet Inf Dis 24(10);1093-1104. (23 May 2024).
    \nDOI:     10.1016\/S1473-3099(24)00236-6<\/a><\/li>\n
  10. UKHSA guidance. Surveillance of targeted 4CMenB vaccination to protect individuals at higher risk of gonorrhoea. (13 November 2025)
    \n    https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/surveillance-of-4cmenb-vaccination-to-protect-individuals-at-higher-risk-of-gonorrhoea\/surveillance-of-targeted-4cmenb-vaccination-to-protect-individuals-at-higher-risk-of-gonorrhoea<\/a><\/li>\n
  11. BHIVA 2026: Limited drug resistance after doxyPEP in Liverpool: uptake of 4CMenB vaccine. (4 May 2026).
    \n    https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/53891<\/a><\/li>\n
  12. BHIVA best of CROI 2026 feedback webinars. 16 March 2026. (Discussion at 1 hr 19 min)
    \n    https:\/\/bhiva.org\/best-of-croi-2026-presentations<\/a> (only available via members login).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Simon Collins, HIV i-Base On 31 May 2026, UKHSA published new guidance on the continued use of the 4CMenB vaccine in a sexual health programme aimed to reduce the incidence of gonorrhoea in gay and bisexual men. [1] The guidance …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,31,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-early-access","category-opportunistic-infections-coinfections-and-complications","category-vaccines-and-microbicides"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54048"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54060,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54048\/revisions\/54060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}