PRINCETON: Freshmen embrace meningitis vaccine

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Nearly the entire freshman class of 1,313 students at Princeton University was vaccinated against the meningitis type B strain that had caused an outbreak at the school last year.
Princeton said Wednesday that the vaccine had been administered to 96 percent of freshmen, most of whom got the shot during a two-day clinic on campus earlier this month. As with past clinics, the shot was given on a voluntary basis at no charge to the students. Any freshman under the age of 18 needed to get a parent’s or a guardian’s permission. The usual side effect of getting the vaccine is a sore arm.
Princeton municipal Health Officer Jeffrey C. Grosser said Wednesday that representatives of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Department of Health were at the clinic. He also was on scene and said he thought the clinic was "extremely well run."
Two doses of the vaccine Bexsero are needed for maximum protection, so the university said it would have another clinic at some point later in the school year. Dates have not been announced.
Meningitis type b is a potentially fatal disease that is transmitted through such means as kissing and sharing drinking glasses. Symptoms run the gamut from nausea, headache and vomiting, according to the CDC. According to the university, the type b meningitis "is not covered by the vaccine that is required for teenagers in the United States."
Starting last year, Princeton faced an outbreak that had infected nine people starting March 2013 and continuing until this past March. Seven of them were university students, while the eighth was a campus visitor. All recovered, but one Drexel University sophomore died March 10 of the illness after she came into contact with Princeton University students the week before her death.
The federal government has recommended that all Princeton undergraduates, graduate students who live in dorms and school staff that have medical conditions get the vaccine. The university first administered Bexsero in December and had later clinics during the school year. All costs are covered by the school.
Princeton said that overall, 98 percent of all undergraduates have got at least one shot of Bexsero, made by pharmaceutical giant Novartis.
There have been no new cases at the school since last year. University spokesman Martin A. Mbugua said Wednesday that Princeton has not determined if every single class of freshmen into the future will have to be vaccinated.