Meningitis Vaccines

It’s criminal that doctors don’t know about the Meningococcal group B vaccine.

ANY doctor can order it. Bexsero is sold by Glaxo SmithKline (which recently bought it from Novartis). Tumenba is made by Pfizer. There’s not a doctor in the country who doesn’t already have an account with these companies.

When your doc said that Meningococcal group B vaccine would be “eventually added to the shot list” she is technically correct, but not in the way you might think. The 2016 revised CDC immunization schedule did indeed add MenB to the “shot list.” but NOT as part of the routine schedule. It is recommended for high-risk children age 10-18 AND it is recommended between ages 16 and 18 for “anyone who wishes to get it after speaking to a provider.” This is different from the routine immunizations (like MMR, polio, etc.), which are recommended for ALL children (absent medical contraindications).

Yes @brantly. Your description of MenB vaccine and whether it’s on ‘the list’ is exactly as our doctor described it.

My DD had first Baxero at CVS. She will have the second one next month. Our pediatrician doesn’t have it and did not want to order it. I am not happy with this pediatrician at all. When I came to CVS they didn’t know what I was talking about so I had them look it up and they ordered it. Our insurance paid for it. They are in a big demand in our area since when CVS try to order second dose it was not available. Few days later they restock and ordered a second one for her.

I don’t quite understand this. It is now a requirement on September 1, if your child is entering 7th or 12th grade.

If your child does not have it and are in 7th/12th grade they will not be allowed to attend school

Re: #163

Looks like that NY requirement applies to the vaccine against the A, C, W, and Y serogroups. The newer vaccine that people are writing about here is for the B serogroup (only). So someone who wants vaccine against all five of these serogroups needs to get two kinds of meningitis vaccine (one for A, C, W, and Y, the other for B).

Correct. Both kids had Menactra vaccines a while back. This is for group B, so a second set of vaccines.

Yes, our teens got Menactra shot at 11 and booster at 16.

But D got Men B shot before freshman year of college as well, since the other shot does not protect against serogroup B.

@sybbie719 What you wrote about is the meningococcal conjugate vaccine. It protects against serogroups A C W and Y. It is on the CDC list of vaccines recommended for ALL children. What we are talking about is the meningococcal B vaccine, which protects against serogroup B. This vaccine is not on the CDC list as recommended for ALL children. It is recommended for children 10-18 who are at high risk for meningococcal B and for children 16-18 who request it.

In NJ pediatricians are recommending the vaccine due to an outbreak of meningitis B on the Rutgers campus last spring. S got it at the pediatrician’s office and D got it at Walgreens; both covered by insurance. Neither of my kids go to school in NJ, but I am relieved they have gotten the vaccine.

I’m in NJ, and S just got the men B shot. He is attending Stevens in the fall, and in addition to regular vaccines, they require proof of MMR resistance (lab work), Tuberculosis test, and the Men B if you are living on campus. I think it is important not just for the dorms; living in the NYC area, he will be exposed to people with a variety of immunization levels.

Are you certain that it is the Men B shot that is required? This website from Stevens says it is the other meningitis shot (that covers A, C, Y, W) which is required for students in Stevens housing. https://www.stevens.edu/directory/student-health-center/health-and-immunization-records

@ciervo I brought in the Stevens health packet to the pediatrician and from my understanding that what was needed to be done to attend in the fall… Maybe the men B was added because of the Rutgers outbreak, or the Dr just thought it was necessary. Anyway, I have no problem with it.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2016/07/meningitis-b-vaccine-disappoints-campus-outbreak indicates that the GSK vaccine against the B serotype appears to be only 66% effective at stimulating the desired immune response. Still much better than no vaccine, but not as good as many other vaccines.

That’s pretty disappointing news about Bexsero @ucbalumnus. I saw on the Rutgers website that they are requiring (with opt-out possible) the Men B vaccine for all students this fall and your link clarifies why they are are pushing Trumenba over Bexsero.
http://health.rutgers.edu/meningitis/men-b-vaccine/

Interesting. D had had the first shot of bexsero, I wonder if she should be doing trumenba instead.

I don’t think you can change it now. We are in the same situation. Only had one so far.

How do we know that Trumenba protects better than 66%? Did anyone post a link that I missed?

The link is in post #172.

Thank you @ciervo I was looking for information that Trumenba is more effective than Baxero. Now we know that Baxero is 66% effective, but don’t know how effective is Trumenba.

Sorry, @Ballerina016 I misread what you were asking. Here is a press release from Pfizer on Trumenba immunogenicity:

http://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer_presents_results_from_two_phase_3_trumenba_meningococcal_group_b_vaccine_studies_at_the_european_society_for_paediatric_infectious_diseases_meeting

My interpretation: Trumenba is designed to protect against four major strains of meningitis B bacteria. When the subjects were tested for their immune response to the four strains after two doses of Trumenba, there was one strain where only 64.0 % of the subjects showed an immune response, while the immune response to the other strains was higher, up to 99.1 percent of subjects. After three doses of Trumenba, the percentage of subjects showing a positive immune response to each of the four strains ranged from 87.1% to 99.5%.

The 66% effectiveness after two doses of Bexsero is similar to the 64% effectiveness after two doses of Trumenba, but Trumenba requires a third dose.