There is a new requirement for meningitis vaccines and boosters for students going back to school this fall.

Washington County Public Health Nurse Lynn Fisher says seventh grade students will need TDAP, a tetanus and whooping cough protection, and the meningitis vaccine. She explains, “Meningitis is a really serious bacterial infection. It’s life threatening, very serious. Or if you survive, a person may be left with limb amputation, loss of limb, loss of hearing, or brain damage. So, it’s very serious, it strikes very rapidly. It’s an infection of the blood, or the brain, or the spinal cord.” She adds the vaccine is effective, “The vaccine that’s out for those four strains that is required for school is 95-100% effect. So that’s really great protection for our adolescents.”

New requirements are for seventh grade students to receive a meningitis vaccine and those entering twelfth grade need a meningitis booster.