News
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends the serogroup B meningitis (MenB) vaccine for individuals at increased risk for meningococcal disease aged 10 years or older, according to a report published in the June 12 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The guideline recommends the MenB vaccine for persons with persistent complement component deficiencies, persons with anatomic or functional asplenia, microbiologists regularly exposed to isolates of Neisseria meningitidis, and persons identified at increased risk because of a serogroup B meningococcal disease outbreak.
The recommendations were revised following recent Food and Drug Administration approval of two MenB vaccines: Trumenba, approved in October 2014, and Bexsero, approved in January 2015. Both MenB vaccines are approved for use in people aged 10-25 years, but are not currently recommended for routine use in first-year college students living in residence halls, in adolescents, or in military recruits.
MenB vaccine should be administered as either a three-dose series of Trumenba or a two-dose series of Bexsero. The same vaccine product should be used for all doses, according to ACIP.
“Recommendations for broader use of MenB vaccines in adolescents and college students will be considered separately by the ACIP,” the report said.
Read more in this week’s MMWR.