Vaccine shortage creates bind for students

A national shortage of a bacterial meningitis vaccine appears to be preventing many Massachusetts college students from complying with a law that for the first time requires new students to be inoculated two weeks before classes begin.

Exactly how many have not been able to get vaccinated is difficult to determine; college health directors are still receiving paperwork. Yesterday, officials at several colleges said they have received anxious calls, particularly from foreign and out-of-state students, saying their doctors were not able to provide the vaccine.

''People are extremely nervous they won't be able to go to classes if they don't have [the shot] by the 29th of August," said Jane Powers, director of the Center for Health and Wellness at Emerson College, where classes begin Sept. 12.

All new students at colleges that provide housing must be vaccinated, according to a state law the governor signed a year ago. The law also requires vaccination for new students in grades 9 to 12 at boarding schools.

If students cannot get vaccinated because of the shortage, the state Department of Public Health is advising students to sign a waiver acknowledging that they recognize the risks of contracting the disease but have not yet been inoculated. There is no penalty for not complying.

''We are getting a lot of waivers from grad students," said Nancy Baker, associate director of health services at Boston College.

Bacterial meningitis, a rare infection of spinal cord fluid and brain fluid, can cause brain damage and, in some cases, death. College freshmen living in dorms are believed to be at increased risk because of activities involving the exchange of saliva, such as sharing food. About 40 cases of bacterial meningitis are recorded in Massachusetts each year, according to the Department of Public Health. Last year, there were 37 cases and four deaths.

''There are other things more dangerous to college students, just driving or drinking, many bad things that happen besides meningitis, but this is preventable," said Dr. Alfred DeMaria,chief disease tracker for the department.

The law applies to all new students at a school, not just freshmen. Baker said 1,000 new graduate students will attend Boston College this year, in addition to 2,400 new full-time undergraduates and 1,000 new part-time students, all of whom are required to be immunized.

''We will have quite a few students not in compliance," she said.

The college contracted with an outside agency to administer meningitis shots during six orientation sessions this summer, Baker said, but few students took advantage of the opportunity.

''Most people thought they would be able to get it at home and just go with their own health provider, and they found it more difficult than they thought it would be," she said.

BC is among several colleges that plan to offer the vaccine, pending the availability of supplies. Bernette Melby, director of health services at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said about 4,400 new students are required to be vaccinated and only sporadic problems have been reported, but the school also has received several hundred waiver forms for the vaccination.

''As a safety plan, people are waiving it for the compliance [law], then signing up to have it done on campus," she said.

Still, the impact on some colleges may be muted. Compliance rates are likely to be high at schools that for several years have recommended that students get vaccinated. An official at Gordon College in Wenham said that last year, before the state law, 62 percent of students indicated they had been vaccinated for meningitis. Other colleges reported vaccination rates as high as 75 percent.

Eight other states mandate vaccinations for students, but the requirements vary, according to a nonprofit group that tracks health information.

A number of Massachusetts college officials said a May decision by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to revise its recommendation for who should be vaccinated -- adding 11-, 12-, and 15-year-olds to the list -- probably exacerbated the crunch.

A spokesman for Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine manufacturer with US headquarters in Swiftwater, Pa., said yesterday that the company had been on track to meet the anticipated demand in the United States until the new CDC guidelines increased the number of vaccinations needed. Demand rose by about 8 million, said company spokesman Len Lavenda.

''Historically, uptake of new vaccines has been fairly slow, but in this case it's been quite rapid," he said.

Lavenda said that when this version of the vaccine was introduced in March, the company planned to produce 5 million US doses by March 2006.

''We are slowly ramping up production," he said. ''We are going to be monitoring the situation over the next couple of months to see if the demand slows down."

Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.