The vaccine called Bexsero will be offered to Princeton students starting Monday given the multiple outbreaks of the potentially deadly virus, meningitis B, on campus. The vaccine is not yet approved in the United States, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have given the college special license given its unusual situation. University spokesman Martin Mbugua reported that around 5,000 undergraduate students and 550 graduate students will be able to get vaccinated.
Freshman Lesa Redmond commented: “There’s not a reason not to get it. I think we definitely know the consequences.”
The university will be covering the cost of the vaccination, and Dr. Thomas Clark, who will be overseeing the distribution, said the school is well prepared. “They can move hundreds of kids through in a day,” said Clark.
Now that a vaccine is available though, parents and students in other parts of the country are wondering if they too will soon get access to it. The University of California Santa Barbara has reported several cases of meningitis as well, and parents like Gavin Brooks are concerned about their children becoming exposed to the virus. “You can’t give [the vaccine]to one university community and not others,” Brooks said. “I think they’re reacting too slow. I don’t know how you can say, ‘Wait and see.’ The precedent has been set. What are they waiting for? I don’t think it’s any less of an outbreak than Princeton.”
