Because of the two cases meningococcal disease B in University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison) students recently, University Health Services (UHS) announced they will be offering the vaccine series free of charge to students starting next Thursday.

flu-shot-1719334_640UHS will be offering the two meningitis B vaccine series, Bexsero and Trumenba, at the SERF on the following dates and times:

  • Thursday, Oct. 20 | 11 am – 7 pm
  • Friday, Oct. 21 | 10 am – 4 pm
  • Tuesday, Oct. 25 | 9 am – 4 pm
  • Wednesday, Oct. 26 | 11 am – 7 pm
  • Thursday, Oct. 27 | 10 am – 5 pm

While most students are vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis before attending college, the vaccine protects against serogroups ACYW but not against serogroup B. Serogroup B vaccine has only recently become available and is not routinely recommended.

UW-Madison recommends that all undergraduate students be vaccinated against meningococcal disease serogroup B.

Related:  What is meningitis, how do you get infected and how can you prevent it?

Student health also reminds the campus community that the two vaccines cannot be interchanged, so if you already received a meningitis B vaccine and want to complete the series, it is important that UHS receive your prior records so that we can verify the proper vaccine and dosage timing.

Meningococcal meningitis B has been seen on a number of university campuses since 2013 to include Yale UniversitySanta Clara University, Providence College, University of Oregon, Georgetown University, Rutgers UniversityUniversity of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), Drexel University and Princeton University, which recorded an outbreak of eight cases in 2013.

Related: