Meningitis Booster Urged for Teenagers

A News & Events entry posted on October 28, 2010

Federal vaccine advisers recommended on Wednesday that 16-year-olds be given a booster dose of a vaccine against meningococcal meningitis and that people ages 11 to 64 get a booster to protect against whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus. The reason for the meningitis recommendation is that two popular vaccines against the disease do not seem to work as well as hoped. Instead of providing 10 years of protection, they may work for only five years or less. That is not long enough to protect teenagers and young adults through the riskiest years because the vaccine is usually given at 11 or 12 years of age. The hope is that a booster dose at 16 would yield protection through the first few years of college, when outbreaks occur most often.
New York Times (October 27, 2010)
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