Meningococcal vaccination: a discussion with all adolescents, whether college-bound or not

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Adolescents and young adults are the primary reservoirs and transmitters of meningococci. In the US, meningococcal serogroup B (MenB) disease predominates over A, C, W, and Y; ACIP-recommended MenACWY and MenB vaccines are available. We investigated invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) burden and vaccination among non-college adolescents.

Methods: IMD incidence by college attendance status and vaccination rates were analyzed using publicly available surveillance data.

Results: 64/158 IMD cases occurred in non-college 18–24-year-olds during 2015–2017. Among non-college cases, the MenACWY vaccination rates were 38%–57% vs 90%–100% among college cases when vaccination status was known; MenB vaccination was 0% vs 0%–7%, respectively. In 2018, 17.2% of all 17-year-olds received ≥1 dose of multidose MenB vaccines; ≤50% completed the series.

Conclusion: Meningococcal vaccination is emphasized for college-bound adolescents, but non-college adolescents bear much of the disease burden. Low vaccine receipt preserves their risk, underscoring the need to protect all adolescents through vaccination.

KEYWORDS:

• Meningococcal serogroup B
• adolescents
• prevention and control
• epidemiology
• vaccination
• college

Acknowledgments

Statistical support was provided by Pingping Zhang, MS, of Pfizer. Editorial support was provided by Judith Kandel, PhD, of Complete Healthcare Communications, LLC (North Wales, PA), a CHC Group company, and was funded by Pfizer.

Declaration of funding

This work was supported by Pfizer Inc.

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Declaration of interest

All authors are employees of Pfizer Inc and may hold stock or stock options.

Author contributions

J Alderfer and A Srivastava were involved in study conception and design as well as analysis and interpretation of the data. M Moran and R Isturiz contributed to analysis and interpretation of the data. All authors were involved in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for intellectual content.

Geolocation information

USA

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.