Authorize the MenB vaccines

As the measles outbreak dominates media coverage of vaccinations, a very important, but under-the-radar meeting is taking place this week at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta about another terrifying disease.

About 50 adolescents a year in the last few years have been struck with the meningitis strain called Meningitis B (MenB). With flu-like symptoms, it attacks a healthy person, and within 24 hours, it can mean death or a devastating disability. About 10 percent of those who contract MenB will die and 20 percent of survivors are permanently disabled. It is spread through saliva, which is why college students are particularly vulnerable. Students have died recently at Drexel University and Georgetown University, among other tragedies around the nation.  A student from the University of California Santa Barbara lost his legs. Just this month, there was yet another outbreak at Providence College in Rhode Island.

{mosads}Also vulnerable – though out of the spotlight – are low-income and minority communities. Many low-income families face key risk factors for bacterial meningitis, including overcrowding, underlying illnesses and tobacco use.

Though the CDC has recommended open access to vaccines for other strains of meningitis, it has not done so yet for MenB, which accounts for about 40 percent of the meningitis cases in the United States. This is confusing for parents who believe their children are protected.

The good news is, however, two vaccines for MenB have recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The vaccines are already in use in Europe, Australia and Canada. To this point, the U.S. policy has been to scramble to provide these vaccines after there is an outbreak – often after people have already died or have been maimed.  

A committee under the CDC, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), has the authority to change this and make the vaccines widely accessible. It is meeting on Feb. 25 to determine who will be ensured access to them.  

One option the committee appears to be leaning toward is to make the vaccine only accessible to certain groups with pre-existing medical conditions or when there is an outbreak. An “outbreak” in this case is defined as two or more people contracting the disease before the vaccines would be made available to others. Under this policy, the vaccine would have very limited availability to the public unless, of course, you can pay for it out of pocket.  

From our view, the preferred route for the CDC to take is to grant a permissive recommendation – meaning the vaccines would be made available to parents who choose to vaccinate their child against MenB, and it would be covered by both federal programs and private health insurance. This is about giving parents the choice to vaccinate against MenB, not mandating that they do so.   

As former lawmakers, we have come together to form the Health Disparities Working Group, with the goal of raising awareness about the disparities in health care for low-income and minority families, and our group believes it is necessary to make the MenB vaccine available to everyone. The reality is that this country has historically had a vaccine gap – wealthy people can afford to get vaccines, and the less affluent have been less lucky. Studies have found that minorities are less likely to receive immunizations because of limited access to preventative health care and lack of education on the importance of regular vaccinations. The National Institutes of Health has identified access to vaccines as a major factor in curbing health disparities. 

The Affordable Care Act, called colloquially “Obamacare,” attempts to equalize vaccine access by requiring that the Vaccines for Children Program – which provides approximately 82 million vaccines to 40 million low-income children each year – cover vaccines with permissive recommendations. And private insurance must follow suit. 

This week, the CDC committee has the power to change our country’s policy on MenB to be proactive, not reactive. We hope our former colleagues in Congress with oversight over the CDC will join with us in asking for a permissive recommendation. It would mean curtailing this frightening – yet preventable – disease and ensuring that we do not inadvertently create a vaccine gap for MenB.   

Dellums served in the House from 1971-1998 and is a founder of the Congressional Black Caucus. He served on The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS for both presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Towns served in the House from 1983 to 2012.