Why We Vaccinate Healthy Teenagers Against Meningococcal Disease

Meningococcal vaccination can feel odd because the disease itself is uncommon.

But meningococcal disease is one of the infections where 'rare' and 'serious' can exist at the same time.

A healthy person can become critically ill quickly

Neisseria meningitidis can cause meningitis and bloodstream infection. Early symptoms may resemble a viral illness, then worsen rapidly.

Even with appropriate treatment, meningococcal disease can cause death or permanent complications such as hearing loss, neurologic injury, or limb loss.

Why adolescents are part of the strategy

The United States began routinely recommending a meningococcal conjugate vaccine for adolescents in 2005.

Protection decreases with time, which is why prevention has historically included vaccination in early adolescence and reinforcement later in the teen years.

Since routine adolescent MenACWY vaccination began, disease caused by covered serogroups in adolescents has fallen sharply.

The college connection

Close living conditions matter. Dormitories, military settings, households, and other environments with prolonged close contact can make transmission easier.

That is why meningococcal vaccine questions often come up around middle school, high school, college forms, and travel.

In primary care

This is a vaccine where we are trying to prevent the event no family wants to experience: a healthy teenager becoming critically ill before anyone realizes how serious the infection is.

— Nora Phillips, DNP, APRN Central Health | Wahiawa, Hawaii

Sources

CDC — Meningococcal Vaccine Recommendations. https://www.cdc.gov/meningococcal/hcp/vaccine-recommendations/

CDC MMWR — Meningococcal Vaccination Recommendations. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/rr/rr6909a1.htm