November 3, 2006 -- CDC Says Meningococcal Vaccine Now Available

After a production shortage earlier this year, supplies of the conjugate vaccine against meningococcal disease are now available and children should be immunized when they are 11 to 12 years old or at high school entry, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today. The vaccine, produced by Sanofi Pasteur and marketed as Menactra, protects against most types of the bacteria that cause meningococcal disease, the most severe form of meningitis. The CDC urges that providers who postponed vaccinating young patients during the shortage should now recall those who missed immunization. The conjugate vaccine is licensed for use in persons 11 to 55 years of age, with special emphasis on groups where the sometimes fatal disease is most often seen adolescents in primary and secondary schools and college freshmen living in dormitories. (For a fuller discussion of meningococcal disease, see the journal Health and Health Care in Schools, November 2006, at http://healthinschools.org.) Information about ordering the vaccine is available from Sanofi Pasteur at http://www.vaccineshoppe.com.