Meningococcal vaccination - NEW recommendations

Administer a dose (a booster dose or the first dose if the adolescent is unvaccinated) after the 16th birthday and prior to college.

All college freshmen living in a dormitory are recommended to be fully vaccinated.

Only the meningococcal conjugate vaccine is recommended for adolescents. However, if the first dose of meningococcal vaccine was administered as polysaccharide vaccine, it is still counted as valid in the adolescent schedule. The booster dose of meningococcal vaccine for adolescents should always be a conjugate vaccine. The 2 licensed products, Menactra® and Menveo®, are interchangeable. If polysaccharide vaccine is inadvertently administered as the booster dose, revaccination with conjugate vaccine is recommended 8 weeks later.