New law requires meningitis vaccine

Each fall, college students from across the nation descend on the Hub. Soon they'll need to do it with an extra shot in the arm: a meningitis shot.

Under legislation signed July 30 by Governor Mitt Romney, all Massachusetts undergraduates and graduate students living in campus housing will have to be vaccinated against meningococcal disease starting in August 2005.

Massachusetts is the tenth state to adopt the requirement.

''Meningitis doesn't affect that many people," said Representative Peter J. Koutoujian, cochairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care, who worked closely on the final legislation. ''But when it does affect someone, it has great and lasting effects."

Meningitis, a potentially fatal infection of the spinal cord and brain fluid, appears at first like the flu, but can quickly cause brain damage and even death in some cases. For college students in dormitories, the rate of infection is five times the normal risk for people their age. The reason for the higher rate is unclear, but may be tied to crowded living conditions.

The American version of the meningitis vaccine protects against four of the five most common strains of the disease, according to Dr. Alfred DeMaria, director of communicable disease control for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vaccine is relatively safe, with side effects ranging from redness or pain where the injection was administered to a mild fever.

Those potential side effects are minor compared with the effects of the disease.

Katelyn Weymouth, a Charlton resident, contracted meningitis three weeks into her freshman year at the University of Connecticut in 1999. Though the disease was gone in 48 hours, the complications continued. A meningitis induced blood infection led to the amputation of both of her feet, and she was put into a medically induced coma for two months while she received skin grafts over 60 percent of her body.

After months of physical therapy, she was able to walk back onto campus the following year to complete her degree. During her time in the hospital, Connecticut enacted a meningitis vaccine requirement.

''It's a benefit for everyone," she said of the law. ''If people think because of this, 'Now I have to do another thing,' they should see what the disease does to people."

The CDC recommends incoming freshmen and their parents discuss the risks and benefits of the vaccine, although college students are not on the agency's list of people who should get the vaccine.

Several Massachusetts colleges recommend the vaccine and offer it at campus clinics.

The vaccination, which can cost from $50 to $75, may not be covered by all insurance agencies, although a spokesman for the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans said most Massachusetts insurance plans pay for it. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Care both cover the inoculation.

A spokeswoman for BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts said that the vaccination is covered only if a doctor recommends it, but the company is reviewing its policy in light of the new law.

Because of the potentially high out-of-pocket expense, as well as health concerns and possible religious objections to vaccination, the bill does allow students and their parents to opt out by signing a waiver saying they read and understood the provided information on meningitis and made an informed decision.

''If my children were going off to college and living in a dormitory, I would see they got one dose of the meningitis vaccine before they left," DeMaria said. ''But if they didn't, it wouldn't be overwhelming. It's one more thing to consider. College students face a lot of problems when they go off to school."