ATLANTA — During administration of the new quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine Menveo, what happens if you fail to reconstitute the Men A powder with the Men CWY liquid?
The short answer is that you end up with “orphan A” that cannot be used; you then need to determine whether the patient needs a subsequent full dose of the meningococcal vaccine, said Dr. William Atkinson of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
You cannot reconstitute the powder with another liquid (such as sterile water); you must use the right diluent, he said.
“Novartis writes this all over the box,” Dr. Atkinson noted.
What happens next depends on the particular patient.
“You have to factor in the epidemiology of meningococcal disease, which says that we don't have, for all practical purposes, any [serogroup] A in this country.”
So whether another dose needs to be administered depends on the individual, he explained:
▸ If the patient is a student getting ready for college, he or she probably doesn't need the Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A component.
▸ In contrast, if the patient is a missionary headed for central Africa, he or she needs the N. meningitidis serogroup A. In that situation, the provider must readminister the entire dose.
The question, posed during a Q&A session at the National Immunization Conference sponsored by the CDC, ok didn't surprise Dr. Atkinson.
“We knew people … would use it incorrectly and give the liquid without reconstituting it,” he said
Dr. Atkinson added that the CDC has been discussing this particular issue with Menveo manufacturer Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Inc.
Dr. Atkinson said he did not have an relevant financial disclosures.