This recommendation also paves the way for coverage of the vaccine by private and public health insurance, including the Vaccines for Children Program (VFC).
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It is under consideration whether all college students nationwide should be recommended to get the newly approved meningitis B vaccine. The recommendation includes all 16- to 23-year olds because incidence is increased in this age group regardless of college enrollment. That strain has caused several outbreaks on college campuses in recent years. The decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices not to give the vaccines a full recommendation means they won’t be mandatory for teenagers, leaving the decision to get the shot or not up to parents and doctors. The CDC now recommends routine vaccination against four of the five major meningococcal serotypes: A, C, W, and Y.
“And without B vaccine, your child is not fully protected”, Wukovits said.
Pfizer Vaccines president Susan Silbermann said: “Serogroup B meningococcal disease is an uncommon but serious illness that attacks without warning and may become life-threatening within 24 hours”. According to the decision, all the teens would be required to get the vaccination of meningitis B infections if the parents agreed for their kids to have this vaccination.
The stronger recommendation for the meningitis B vaccines would be “less confusing for all concerned”, commented Deborah Wexler, MD, speaking for the Immunization Action Coalition of St. Paul, Minn.
But they were approved following an accelerated pathway and data on immunogenicity and safety is limited, the committee was told.
The fight for wider use caps a long and contentious effort to make a meningitis B vaccine available in the USA.
For some parents it’s too late.
She’s talking about her daughter Sara, who died in October as an 18 year-old college freshman after contracting a strain of meningococcal disease that isn’t included in the recommended vaccine.
A federal advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given a partial endorsement of two meningitis vaccines.
This year Georgia and North Carolina wisely developed mandates for the existing meningococcal vaccines.
Instead, the committee voted for a category B or “permissive” recommendation in adolescents 16 to 23, with a preferred age of 16 to 18. But some level of uncertainty about vaccine safety caused reluctance to vote for routine use.
Dr. Sinha warns that at first, “symptoms will mimic a cold or flu, but the problem is that students won’t go see a health professional quickly enough to diagnose the disease”. Even when properly treated, the mortality rate for patients with meningococcal meningitis is approximately 10-to-15 percent.
Approval of TRUMENBA is based on the demonstration of immune response, as measured by serum bactericidal activity against four serogroup B strains representative of prevalent strains in the United States.
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Also testifying in support of the vaccination was Andy Marso of Topeka.
