No bones about it, meningococcal disease (a leading cause of meningitis) is absolutely devastating. Infants, with their weak immune system, are at the highest risk for contracting it in the first seven months.
One is seven people that contract meningitis will dies. One in six of the survivors will suffer severe disability such as amputation, hearing loss, blindness, brain damage…
50-60% of infant cases are preventable with vaccination.
Right now the CDC recommends that kids age 11-18 be vaccinated as part of the routine vaccinations. A vaccine for infants is now available and has been FDA approved, but it isn’t yet on the recommended vaccination list.
Meningitis can be hard to diagnose because it starts out with flu-like symptoms and by the time the correct diagnosis is made it is too late. Let’s just wipe out this potential!
Visit Protect Infants Now to sign the petition to ask the CDC to recommend Infant Meningococcal vaccine.
Watch this video of Frankie Milley, who lost her only child – her 18 year old son, to meningococcal disease, explain more about this disease.
(Source: Protect Infants Now)
Disclosure: I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central and Meningitis Angels. This campaign was made possible in part through support provided by Novartis Vaccines. A small donation to a charity of my choice was made in my name from Mom Central as a thank-you for participating. All opinions in this post are 100% my own.
