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New vaccines approved for meningitis B strain

213 views · Published 25 June 2015 · 1:40 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: LOCAL 12 · 2015 · News & Politics

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CINCINNATI (Liz Bonis) -- A CDC advisory committee recommends new vaccines to prevent meningitis B for adolescents and young adults.      The dangerous strain has caused several outbreaks on college campuses. Kimberly Coffey was days away from graduating high school when she came down with, what her mother thought was, the flu. It turns out Kimberly had meningitis. Within hours, the 17-year-old was in the ICU. Nine days later, she died. Patti Wukovits, Kimberlys mother, said, I mean my heart is shattered. I lost my baby girl. To a vaccine-preventable disease, but we did not have the vaccine." Current vaccines protect against several types of meningitis but not the serogroup B strain that Kimberly had. Now a CDC committee has voted to recommend using new vaccines to prevent that strain of meningitis in adolescents and young adults. Dr. Elaine Schulte of the Cleveland Clinic said, Recently, there have been increased outbreaks on college campuses, particularly of serogroup B disease. Children have died and lots of these young adults have ended up with these long-term complications. Meningitis symptoms come on suddenly and include fever, stiff neck and headache. Some group's say the CDC recommendation does not go far enough because it does not make it a routine vaccination.   Kimberly's mother has made it her mission to make sure what happened to her family, does not happen to anyone else, I want parents to know there is a fifth serogroup of meningococcal  disease. And without with B vaccine your child is not fully protected. The CDC still needs to approve the panel's recommendation. When that happens, insurance companies would most likely cover the new vaccines. Follow Liz Bonis on Twitter @lbonis1, and LIKE her on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @Local12 and LIKE us on Facebook for updates!

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