How important is the meningitis vaccine for dorm bound students?

[JudoMom]

I'm going to schedule my ds17 for the vaccine and I'm wondering if anyone has had any reactions to the shot. My ds had terrible reactions to vaccines when he was little, and I worry that he could react badly to this one as well.

My ds16 just got it and I asked the pediatrician about reactions because he had football a few hours later. He said there wouldn't be any issues. Normally there's a list of things to watch for, but I don't remember any with this vax.

[Crimson Wife]

This person is going to college. She is an adult (or nearly so) How much control do the people saying this is "non negotiable" think they should have over other adults medical decision? Sure, let her know your opinion in it but ultimately it is up to her.

 

 

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If they're not self-supporting, then the parent still has leverage. I'm under no obligation to keep my offspring who are 18+ and high school graduates on our health insurance policy nor assist them with college expenses. If they want the financial assistance, then I have every right to tie strings to that assistance.

[TravelingChris]

I related my viral meningitis story just to show how big an impact even a milder version of meningitis has (because usually the viral is less damaging).  But others are completely right, the vaccine is only for the bacterial version (s). which are the more deadly kind.

[MistyMountain]

I used to vaccinate on a slower schedule but meningitis was always the most important one to get to me. Someone in my class in elementary school lost a father to meningitis in the early 80s when vaccination was not wide spread yet. They wrote about it in a story that won a writing contest and I will always remember the details of that story. I have met people who have lost college age kids to it. My kids' pediatrician said that he personally witnessed a dramatic change in the number of hospitilizations and deaths with vaccination through the 90s especially.

Edited August 9, 2017 by MistyMountain

[Just Kate]

You know, I just have to say... this thread is giving me major anxiety.

 

Like I said upthread, my DS had meningitis last summer. His pediatrician and I have both mentioned that *we* feel like we have a bit of PTSD about that. I don't mean to trivialize PTSD, I know it is serious. Maybe it's not the right word for what I'm feeling, but the thought of knowingly opting out of a vaccine for meningitis is making me twitch, and catch my breath.

 

DS was 12 last summer. He was fine when he went to bed. We were staying in a hotel, while our house was being renovated, and for that reason, he and I were sharing a bed - at 4 am, he was extremely ill, and burning hot. I'll never know how high his temp was at that time, as we had not brought a thermometer to the hotel. That was the start of a truly harrowing experience. He could have died. I will never forget the way he hallucinated as his temp hit 105 and up, in the hospital.

 

Get the shot.

Oh my goodness...how scary!!! I can imagine that this conversation makes you very anxious. (((hugs)))

[luuknam]

I do not think it necessarily is more dangerous than previously.  Universities and other mass living facilities have just gotten wiser about it.  There were recommendations about it in 2004, I think.  

 

I dunno. I was a freshman in Fall 2005, and no doctor has *ever* suggested to me that I should get the vaccine. No doctor has ever suggested that my kids get the vaccine either, even though the ped has signed 5 sleep-away summer camp health forms for them by now (4 for the older, 1 for the younger). Each of the above (college and camp) involved signing a waiver that I'd heard of meningitis... but yet no doctor ever has suggested/recommended the vaccine (and since most vaccines cost a TON if they're not standard required vaccines, I'm not about to ask for elective vaccines).

 

I've had the rabies vaccine as a preventative thing before I went to Thailand because of its potential deadliness and uncertainty over whether healthcare would be accessible enough, but even though people eat certain foods (like papaya salad) with their hands there, which seems like a saliva-contamination risk, no suggestion for the meningitis vaccine. I've also had TB testing out of the same paranoia. So, I don't know... I noticed in one of the links that the CDC now apparently recommends the meningitis vaccine for people 11-18yo, but I don't know why it's apparently a-okay for kids 10 and under or adults over 18 to just never ever get it in their lives. Likewise, I don't get why I don't qualify for the Gardasil vaccine... I was about a year too old for it when they came out with it, and even though they've raised the age since then, I'm still too old for it. Not that I feel a need for that one since I'm married, but it's odd to me (and if I were to suddenly become single, I would wonder if I'd need that vaccine). 

 

My kids will get the meningitis vaccine if/when their ped recommends it, I guess. Their ped is all for vaccines in general (does not recommend delaying or selectively vaxing), so I assume it will get recommended when oldest turns 11 or so... which will be *after* next summer's sleep-away summer camp. Btw, I don't know anybody IRL who had a friend/relative die from meningitis (not even sure I know anybody IRL who had a friend/relative fall ill with meningitis), so this thread has been really weird to read. 

[SKL]

Yeah, it is rare and it's not that easy to spread because you have to ingest the other person's spit or snot, from what I've read.  But it kills 10+% of those infected, and causes severe damage to many others, so it's not something to blow off either.

 

I have a spin-off thread specific to the safety of the vax itself.

 

A health professional who is anti-vax recommended that I waive it, but I am leaning toward having my kids get it.  Maybe I should get it too ....

[6packofun]

We selectively vax (only reject very few) and our kids may not live in dorms at all, but when they move out? They will probably get it, especially if they get roommates/live in an apartment complex.

[ealp2009]

just as those colleges that require the vaccine are free to tell the "adult student" they've been disenrolled because the vax is mandatory for all students. and yeah - there are universities where it's non-negotiable.

 

my dd had a health issue. (paid all her own bills- including her mortgage) I would advise, suggest, strongly encourage - I finally told her if she wanted to ignore me and handle it (or not) herself - she was NOT allowed to gripe about it to me.

Having a university require it is completely different than a parent requiring for their adult child. I don't think that is comparable. And some universities do allow exemptions, which the adult student would have to sign for, not the parent.

 

 

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[ealp2009]

If they're not self-supporting, then the parent still has leverage. I'm under no obligation to keep my offspring who are 18+ and high school graduates on our health insurance policy nor assist them with college expenses. If they want the financial assistance, then I have every right to tie strings to that assistance.

Sure, you can give your children whatever ultimatums you want. I'm not sure that is the best way to foster a healthy relationship with anybody though.

 

 

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[Lady Florida.]

 

I think that when I was in college this was simply something that wasn't covered much in the media. We had 30 people come back from spending a semester in Guatamala with Hepatitis, but apart from the county and state health department knowing about i, I don't think anyone outside the medical community off campus knew that their dorm floor was under quarantine, and food was delivered to the group.

 

I think there are many more health alerts in the news now than there were 30 years ago.

 

Plus we didn't have the internet or even 24 hour news cycles back then. It took longer for the information to get out, and when it did it often stayed local.

[Library Momma]

I remember being a college sophomore in 1988 and waiting in an enormous line in the university gym to get the meningitis vaccine.  I don't really remember the circumstances that led up to it.  There must have been a case on campus and this was the emergency response.

 

 

[creekland]

Sure, you can give your children whatever ultimatums you want. I'm not sure that is the best way to foster a healthy relationship with anybody though.

 

When it's something important - like their health and potentially life/death - we've never had an issue at all.  If we were trying to control their lives in general, then there's a problem.

 

There really is nothing magical about someone being 17/18/19 just because our man-made laws change.  Human brains tend to not mature until 21-25, some studies even suggest 30 (pending individual human).  Logical thinking tends to develop last...  Even in cultures where kids took on adult roles much earlier, they were still guided by older adults who gave them (usually heeded) advice on important matters.

 

"The fact that our brains aren’t developed until the mid 20s means that “legal adults†(those age 18+) are allowed to make adult decisions, without fully mature brains.  Someone who is 18 may make riskier decisions than someone in their mid-20s in part due to lack of experience, but primarily due to an underdeveloped brain."

 

http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I'm not one to play the heavy parent with adult kids. I'm more the type to help them figure out how to become independent, if our current level of entanglement becomes stressful. (BTDT, college boy is moving out in two weeks, without danger of starvation or homelessness. Hallelujah.)

 

That said, in a matter of personal AND public health, I might play any card I've got. I don't think my child is the only one at increased risk of meningitis if he doesn't get the shot. He could contribute to an epidemic, or endanger his friends and community. I'm not OK with that.

 

"Do you part to prevent a VPD epidemic on your campus, or I'm not going to help you attend there" isn't really in the same category of helicoptering and control as "marry a spouse of our faith or you're out of the will."

 

This is moot for me. My kid doesn't like to be a public health hazard. So I've never forced a young adult to take a medication or vaccination. Not totally sure I could follow through with a threat. But I have to say I do understand why parents might feel desperate enough to try to force them, for a lifesaving vaccine.

[cera2]

Non-negotiable

 

And while you can waive it at many schools, if there is a confirmed case and you have opted to waive it you can be forced to leave campus until there is no longer a threat of it spreading.  I'm not sure how a kid would weather missing 2 or more weeks of class in college.

[lllll]

nm

Edited September 6, 2017 by lllllll

[HollyDay]

nm

Edited August 9, 2017 by HollyDay

[Deb in NZ]

I remember being a college sophomore in 1988 and waiting in an enormous line in the university gym to get the meningitis vaccine.  I don't really remember the circumstances that led up to it.  There must have been a case on campus and this was the emergency response.

 

I remember a whole dorm under quarantine because of a case of meningitis at my university.  That was in the mid 80s