On November 3, 2006, CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended resumption of immunization for all groups previously recommended to receive routine Menactra immunization. However, the supply of state-funded Menactra for children and adolescents remains insufficient to immunize all for whom the vaccine is routinely indicated.  Consequently, Public Health recommends that providers expand their vaccination efforts as local supplies permit, while continuing to prioritize adolescents as described below.  Routine vaccination of 11-12 year-olds remains the lowest priority when supplies are limited. For more information, see: http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Immunize/documents/vacusage06.pdf.

While Menactra supply is limited, Public Health will prioritize administration of VFC (Vaccines for Children) vaccine in the following order:

1.)	Adolescents 11 years of age up to the 19th birthday who:
		Have terminal complement component deficiencies
		Have anatomic or functional asplenia
		Travel to countries in which N. meningitidis is hyperendemic or epidemic, particularly if contact with the local population will be prolonged
		Are freshmen entering college living in dormitory settings
2.)	Adolescents who are entering high school
3.)	15 year olds
4.)	Older adolescents
5.)	11-12 year olds

Supplies of Menactra vaccine are sufficient to immunize adults 19-55 who:

• Have anatomic or functional asplenia
• Travel to countries in which N. meningitidis is hyperendemic or epidemic, particularly if contact with the local population will be prolonged

Information about meningococcal disease

Meningococcal disease is a serious but uncommon illness. In the US each year there are about 2,500 people infected with meningococcal disease (1-2 cases for every 100,000 people). Of 14 million students enrolled in colleges nationwide, approximately 100 acquire meningococcal disease each year, with 5-15 deaths. College freshmen living in dormitories are more likely to get meningococcal disease than people of the same age, whether or not they attend college.

Only one case of meningococcal disease has occurred in a college student in the past six years in King County, and involved a strain of meningococcal diseases that is included in the vaccine. However, this student was 26 years old and did not live in a dormitory, so she would not have been covered by the recommendation to vaccinate college freshmen living in dorms.

Since January 2000, 14 cases of meningococcal disease have been reported among persons 11-19 years of age in King County . The strain that caused disease could be identified in eleven of the 14 cases; four of the eleven cases involved strains contained in the vaccine, but seven were caused by a strain that is not in the vaccine. Two of the fourteen patients died, one of them due to a strain that’s not in the vaccine, and the other from a strain that couldn’t be identified.

For more information about meningococcal disease and its prevention, see: www.metrokc.gov/health/prevcont/menin.htm

Preventing the spread of meningococcal disease:

• Avoid close contact with persons with respiratory infections (who are coughing and sneezing.)
• Avoid sharing food, drinks, cigarettes, or eating utensils.
• Wash hands before and after eating and after coughing or sneezing.