Nearly 600,000 people have signed a petition calling for the government to provide meningitis B vaccinations for all children up to the age of 11 through the NHS.

The petition was started following the death of two-year old Faye Burdett from Maidstone, Kent who died in hospital after being rushed to A&E with a rash on her head.

She was then diagnosed with meningitis B and fought the illness for 11 days.

From September last year, meningitis B vaccinations were provided as part of the routine immunisation schedule for all babies born after July 1, 2015.

Scotland’s NHS also provided all babies born between May 1 and June 30, 2015 a one-off shot of the vaccine.

Alternatively, babies born between May 1 and May 31 will be offered the vaccine at four and 12 months.

Although most at risk, children born before these dates are not eligible and instead must pay to receive the treatment privately.

This can cost between £95 and £160 per dosage depending on the clinic so many parents cannot afford to vaccinate them.

Another meningitis vaccine - Men ACWY - was offered to 17 and 18-year-olds and students starting university last year – the same vaccine is expected to be offered again in 2016 and 2017.

However meningitis B is responsible for 90% of meningococcal diseases in the UK which are the leading infectious killer of babies in the UK.

Meningitis Now CEO Sue Davie said: "The response to Faye’s petition has been overwhelming, with signatures reaching over 250,000 in a matter of days.

"We are using our voice to support the petition to raise the profile of meningitis, keeping it high on the political agenda and increasing awareness among the public to prevent more lives being lost to this devastating disease.

"Although the introduction of the meningitis B vaccine on the childhood immunisation scheme for young babies was a momentous achievement, saving thousands of lives, there are still so many, like Faye, left unprotected.

"Moving forward, we continue to campaign to see the meningitis B vaccine rolled out in Scotland, particularly to at risk groups to ensure a future where no one in the UK loses their life to meningitis."

Around 1200 people, mainly babies and children, contract meningitis B each year. The highly contagious disease can be fatal in one in ten of those affected.

Symptoms of the illness can include high fever, vomiting, headache, rash, cold hands and feet. Some babies develop a rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it.

Many others go on to suffer from severe permanent after effects such as brain damage, amputation and epilepsy.

Gemma Lessells of Inverkeithing, Fife, said her six-year-old son Matthew still suffers hearing problems and required speech therapy after he was violently ill in 2010.

Within hours, Matthew's symptoms rocketed from a high temperature and sickness to collapsing in his mother's arms.

Gemma said: "I remember speaking to my husband Thomas about phoning NHS 24 and at that point Matthew sat bolt upright, tried to be sick and collapsed.

"We phoned an ambulance and took him to the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and the doctors began treatment for meningitis B.

"I noticed during the night his eyelids were all puffy because of the excess fluid in his body. The consultant said if he didn’t improve within an hour they would have to put him in a medically-induced coma at Edinburgh Sick Kids.

"I felt devastated at that point I really did think we were going to lose him."

Since his illness, Matthew has become Scotland's first junior ambassador for the Meningitis Research Foundation.

For the Lessells family, Fay Burdett's death has only heightened the need for meningitis B vaccinations to be rolled out across Scotland.

Gemma added: "The government are saying they want to protect the most vulnerable, but they're not doing that.

"They're saying they want to protect children under five but with the current system, they're really only protecting one fifth of those children. I think there’s definitely scope to roll it out across Scotland."

While charities have vowed to continue campaigning to keep the issue high on the political agenda, public health minister Maureen Watt says a review may be on the horizon.

She said: "My thoughts are with Faye’s family during what must be an unimaginably difficult time. No one who has heard the story, or seen the pictures could fail to be moved by it.

"When any new immunisation programme is introduced, there has to be a date to determine eligibility - a decision based on the best independent clinical recommendation to ensure we can protect those children most at risk of meningitis B.

"We’re guided on immunisations by the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. In light of this campaign, we will be writing to the JCVI to ask them to consider reviewing the evidence on their current advice to determine if it should be changed.

"We’re committed to protecting youngsters against this disease, which is why Scotland launched a nationwide meningitis B vaccination programme last year. All children who are now aged up to nine months should have been offered the vaccine."