Mr Dobson told the Commons that the programme will cut by half the number of outbreaks and deaths from the disease.

It targets the C strain of meningococcal meningitis and will begin in the autumn, a year ahead of schedule, after successful trials on more than 4,000 British children and 21,000 youngsters outside the UK.

The BBC's Fergus Walsh: "The biggest vaccination programme the UK has ever seen"

He said: "Provided everything proceeds as intended, the NHS will be the first healthcare system in the world to have use of this new vaccine."

The new vaccine will initially be targeted at those most at risk:

• Babies aged two, three and four months when they get their routine diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and Hib vaccine
• Children aged 13 months when they get their first measles, mumps and rubella vaccine
• Children aged over four months and under one year who will be specifically recalled
• Young people aged 15, 16 and 17

As more supplies become available children aged one to five will be the next to be vaccinated early next year, followed by youngsters in other age groups.

The priority groups have been agreed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the National Meningitis Trust and the Meningitis Research Foundation.

Students to get older vaccine

Health Secretary Frank Dobson: "Vaccination programme will save lives"

From the autumn, an existing vaccine, which is less effective and only lasts for three years, is also being made available to older teenagers who are going to college and university and are considered a vulnerable group.

Mr Dobson added: "It would, of course, have been better if we could have had sufficient doses of the new vaccine to immunise everyone straight away, but this is a new vaccine and stocks are having to be manufactured from scratch.

"Meningitis fills parents with fear because it can arrive out of the blue and bring a healthy child to death's door in a few hours.

"This brand new vaccine will help reduce the incidence of meningitis, but it won't bring it to an end."

Frank Dobson said the vaccination programme would cut deaths by a half

The announcement of a vaccation programme comes in the wake of a series of outbreaks of meningitis and on the day Welsh health experts published a report on a serious outbreak in South Wales earlier this year.

Last year, the meningococcal group C infection affected more than 1,500 people and killed 150 of them, mainly children and young people.

About one in three of all British cases of the brain disease are caused by the C strain.

At least one in 10 of those who contracts meningitis C is killed by the disease.

The vaccine is being developed by three companies.

Mr Dobson told shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox the programme would be funded centrally and should achieve almost "universal coverage" by next spring or summer, depending on how quickly production proceeded.

There is still no vaccine against Group B meningococcal infection, although these cases tend to be more isolated in the UK.

Postive response

A spokeswoman for the Meningitis Research Foundation said: "This will undoubtedly save lives and the right groups are being targeted.

"This vaccine is much more effective than the one currently available and will offer a very good level of protection."

Jo Yarwood, of the Health Education Authority, said: "This is an important breakthrough for parents who we know are very concerned about meningitis.

"But we must stress that this new vaccine only protects against one form of meningitis and septicemia."