SLS 15RS-3213 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 179
BY SENATOR MURRAY
PUBLIC HEALTH. Requests the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sub-group
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to recommend the Meningitis B vaccine for
incoming college students.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To urge and request the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sub-group Advisory
3 Committee on Immunization Practices to recommend that incoming college students
4 receive the Meningitis B vaccine.
5 WHEREAS, student government is dedicated to making sure that students receive
6 the best education possible while preparing students for a successful future; and
7 WHEREAS, the Meningitis B vaccine has been newly approved by the Centers for
8 Disease Control and Prevention sub-group Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
9 (ACIP); and
10 WHEREAS, incoming college freshman students are most likely to be infected with
11 Meningitis due to the close living quarters and social nature of college students; and
12 WHEREAS, college athletes are frequently together and commonly share items that
13 can serve as a mechanism to transmit disease, promoting a high possibility of becoming
14 infected with this disease; and
15 WHEREAS, there has been an outbreak of Meningitis at the University of Oregon,
16 infecting six individuals within the last four weeks, with one death; and
17 WHEREAS, in recent months and years there have been multiple college students
18 who have been infected with Meningitis, attending different universities (San Diego State
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SLS 15RS-3213 ORIGINAL
1 University, Drexel University, Princeton University, and Providence College) across several
2 states, some resulting in death and lifelong medical conditions not limited to loss of mental
3 function, brain and kidney damage, loss of hearing, and amputation of limbs; and
4 WHEREAS, there are five strains of Meningitis, serogroup B being the most deadly
5 and just recently becoming vaccine preventable; and
6 WHEREAS, Meningitis B resembles the flu but escalates much more quickly; and
7 WHEREAS, one in ten cases of those infected with Meningitis B has resulted in
8 death; and
9 WHEREAS, health insurers commonly only cover ACIP recommended
10 immunizations; and
11 WHEREAS, public schools and universities cannot require that which is not
12 recommended; and
13 WHEREAS, ACIP met in February 2014 but did not make any changes relating to
14 Meningitis due to a shortened meeting and deferred the topic of Meningitis B
15 recommendations until June 2015; and
16 WHEREAS, government leaders, after the severe outbreak of Meningitis, sent out
17 a public safety announcement strongly urging parents to immunize their children; and
18 WHEREAS, physicians do not keep in stock that which is not in demand, making
19 access to the life-saving vaccine difficult for parents who desire to vaccinate their children;
20 and
21 WHEREAS, ACIP recommendation of this vaccine would result in immunity for a
22 majority of college students, allowing incoming students to develop immunity and protect
23 their great, young minds, and future from this known killer.
24 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
25 does hereby urge and request the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sub-group
26 Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to recommend, at their June 2015 meeting,
27 that incoming college students receive the Meningitis B vaccine.
28 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
29 Centers for Disease Control Practices sub-group Advisory Committee on Immunization
30 Practices.
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SLS 15RS-3213 ORIGINAL
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Angela L. De Jean.
DIGEST
SR 179 Original 2015 Regular Session Murray
Requests the CDC sub-group ACIP to recommend that incoming college students receive
the Meningitis B vaccine.
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