Yale University began offering vaccines to members of the campus community after an undergraduate student was diagnosed with the B strain of bacterial meningitis last week.
It wasn't until October that the CDC released a vaccine designed to protect against this particular strain. The vaccine comprises two inoculations to be received a month apart.
Yale Health notified students of the vaccine availability in a message posted online after tests confirmed the student's diagnosis late last week.
“With a single case on campus, federal, state, and local health officials do not recommend mass vaccinations, but we are prepared to offer the new vaccine to anyone in the Yale community who wishes to be vaccinated,” Yale Health said in the advisory posted Friday.
Among the students who flocked to the health center to be immunized Tuesday was sophomore Katherine Kirk.
"We're a very pro-vaccination family. I had my meningitis vaccine already, but the strand that the student had here wasn't covered by the general meningitis vaccine that is recommended by pediatricians," Kirk explained. "I had the time, and I tend to go for the 'better safe than sorry' philosophy."
Kirk said she appreciates the way the university handled the student's diagnosis, explaining that Yale provided students with information form the CDC and allowed them to make their own decisions.
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"I wasn't too concerned only because I know that Yale took all the right precautions. They notified the people who had been in contact with the student," she said.
But those who have prior experience dealing with meningitis said a diagnosis on campus is enough to raise hackles.
"I'm a grad student, and in my undergrad, someone died from meningitis," explained Yale graduate student Cornelius Davidson. " I was a RA, and we had to quarantine off, so it's very scary."
