A Fife campaigner fears the UK Government has ruled out offering the Meningitis B jag to all children before the issue is debated.
Gemma Lessells, of Inverkeithing, said she was devastated the Government seemed determined not to widen its routine immunisation programme on the grounds of cost.
“It’s devastating. There is no money but MPs can afford an 11% pay increase, and they can afford to vaccinate privately, which is out of reach for so many,” she said.
“This is a wee knock back but we’ll keep on fighting.”
A petition calling for children, at least up to age 11, to be vaccinated against deadly Meningitis B has now gathered more than 819,000 signatures.
The matter is to be debated after MPs hear evidence from experts and families affected by the disease.
But the Department of Health has said offering the jab against advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) would not be cost-effective.
The department said the existing routine immunisation programme for babies, launched in September last year, protected those most at risk.
It described the cost-effectiveness of the infant vaccination scheme as “marginal”.
Mrs Lessells’ six-year-old son Matthew became seriously ill in 2010 after becoming infected with Meningitis B.
She said: “They had advised that they wanted to gain information from families affected before the debate, but it would appear their minds are made up prior to any debate. Of course we will continue to campaign. I will campaign until meningitis is eradicated.
“The only way to achieve that is through vaccination.
“Children are needlessly dying or risk being left seriously disabled from an illness which can be prevented by vaccination.”
The Department of Health said cases of Meningitis B were falling, with 400 cases in England in 2014 compared to 1,600 in the early 2000s.
But it warned that the vaccine would not protect against other dangerous strains of the bacteria.
In its response to the petition, it said: “The NHS budget is a finite resource.
“It is therefore essential that JCVI’s recommendations are underpinned by evidence of cost-effectiveness.
“There are also other strains of meningococcal disease for which there is currently no vaccine.
“It therefore remains important for parents to be alert to the symptoms of meningococcal disease such as fever, blotchy skin, refusal to feed, irritability, cold hands and feet, rash, muscle pain, and a stiff body with jerky movements or else floppy and lifeless.”