This vaccine wasn't designed for gonorrhoea. It's the meningitis B vaccine currently given to babies.
But the bacteria that cause the two diseases are so closely related that the MenB jab appears to cut gonorrhoea cases by around a third.
That will require a delicate conversation in sexual health clinics as the vaccine will not eliminate the risk of catching gonorrhoea. It is normally caught while having sex without a condom.
But Prof Andrew Pollard, the chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which recommended the vaccine, said despite it only being 30% effective, it was "worth having" and could have "a huge impact" overall.
The decision is not just about the record numbers of cases. Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly difficult to treat.
Most cases are treated with a single dose of antibiotics, but there is an 80-year history of the bacterium which causes gonorrhoea repeatedly evolving resistance to our antibiotics.
It's happening to the current treatments too and is why some doctors are concerned gonorrhoea could one-day become untreatable.