Meningococcal meningitis vaccines are available for a wide age range of patient populations. In October 2010, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved revisions to the recommendations for meningococcal immunization.
4,6 These changes, published in 2011, are described in the “Children and Adolescents” and “Adults” sections of the present article and highlighted in
Figure 1.
Two quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccines (MCV4) are licensed in the United States for prevention of meningococcal disease caused by serogroups A, C, Y, and W-135 in patients aged 2 to 55 years.
4,7 One vaccine is MenACWY-CRM (Menveo; Novartis Pharmaceuticals, East Hanover, New Jersey), and the other vaccine is Men-ACWY-D (Menactra; Sanofi Pasteur Inc, Swiftwater, Pennsylvania).
4,7 The ACIP recommends using either MCV4 as the primary or booster vaccine, noting the superiority of these vaccines over the quadrivalent meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine (MPSV4 [Menomune; Sanofi Pasteur Inc]), which has been marketed since the 1970s.
6 All physicians and other healthcare personnel should be vaccinated against meningitis regardless of the vaccine brand used as the primary or booster dose.
4