Students living on Missouri public college campuses now must be vaccinated against bacterial meningitis.
A state law requiring the vaccine for those living in on-campus housing took effect last week.
Susan Even, the executive director of the University of Missouri Student Health Center, said the objective of the new law is to improve health conditions for students living in on-campus housing.
“It will increase the number who will be protected from getting four of the five strains of meningitis. It increases the likelihood that we can prevent a case rather than having to try to treat or look at a potential outbreak possibility,” she said.
Even said students living on campus are at higher risk of contracting the disease than off-campus students. She said students can seek a religious or medical exemption.
“If it’s inconvenient and if they don’t really want to feel like getting it, that isn’t going to be accepted as a valid reason not to get it,” she said.
Meningococcal disease can cause an inflammation of the brain lining known as meningitis. It can spread among people in crowded places such as dormitories and can strike quickly with sometimes deadly results.
Some symptoms can appear similar to the flu, including fever, headaches and neck stiffness.
