Watching a child fight for life is every parent's nightmare.

The meningitis C vaccine has given parents peace of mind over the disease but concerns have been raised about the mass immunisation programme.

One moment a child with meningitis can seem perfectly healthy. The next, its life can be hanging in the balance.

Parents watch helplessly as doctors crowd around their child's bedside, working frantically to keep them alive.

Last November, health authorities started a mass vaccination programme against the C-strain of the brain disease. The final phase is due to start next month.

While many parents have had no reservations about letting their children have the jabs, the Government has now been accused of covering up risks posed by the vaccine.

A newspaper has reported it received confidential documents showing 11 people died after being vaccinated against the virus. Although the deaths were reported to the Medicines Control Agency, they were not made public by the Government.

The article claimed since the immunisation programme started last year, more than 16,000 adverse reactions had been reported by GPs.

The Department of Health said officials were "extremely confident" about the vaccine's safety. It said the deaths had not been made public because any link with the vaccine had been ruled out.

But the claims have still raised concern among parents. Isabella Thomas of Justice, Awareness and Basic Support (JABS), a Brighton-based vaccination support group, said parents had complained to her that their children displayed classic signs of meningitis after receiving the group C vaccine. She said: "We need more information about this. We are not anti-vaccine, but this programme has come in too quickly.

"Parents have contacted us because their children have had side-effects and they are not just a mild temperature. We feel there should be more information and freedom of choice for parents."

Department of Health figures show a 75 per cent drop in confirmed meningitis cases in the 15 to 17 age group last winter. For babies under one there was a 70 per cent fall.

Nurses and doctors are preparing to immunise 14,000 five to nine-year-olds in East Sussex next month.

Brighton mother Lisa Niner is one of several Sussex parents who knows only too well the horror of watching a child battle meningitis.

Her daughter, Cassie, now three, survived a brush with death when she contracted the disease in 1998.

Lisa, from Patcham, said she had no qualms about allowing Cassie to receive the vaccine a few weeks ago.

She said: "Cassie was a bit poorly after her vaccination but nothing too serious. We wanted her to have the vaccine to give her body more of a chance to fight it if meningitis C struck."

Others remain unconvinced. Steven Ransom, a medical journalist who has spoken out denouncing the existence of HIV, has doubts about the need for the group C immunisation programme.

He said: "Parents who know their children better than anyone are being asked to prove the side effects were directly caused by the vaccine, which is very hard to do.

"There needs to be more long-term work on this issue."

A spokeswoman for East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority said: "Parents are still recommended to have their child vaccinated. The vaccine can't cause meningitis."

The National Meningitis Trust's 24-hour helpline can be contacted on 0845 6000800. The Department of Health's website is at www.doh.gov.uk