meningitis

MenB Vaccination Is Under-Recommended

Family practitioners and pediatricians are not adequately discussing the meningitis B (MenB) vaccine with their patients, as observed by their responses to a survey.

 

Current guidelines recommend MenB vaccination among individuals aged 16 to 23 years. However, little is known about whether these guidelines are being enforced.

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To better understand vaccine delivery practices, the researchers administered an online survey to a nationally representative sample of 916 family practitioners and pediatricians from October 2016 to December 2016.

 

Overall, 660 (72%) participants had responded to the survey.

 

Results showed that 51% of pediatricians and 31% of family practitioners reported always or often discussing MenB vaccine during routine visits. Of these respondents, 91% recommended vaccination. Among respondents who never or rarely discussed the vaccine, only 11% recommended it.

 

The researchers uncovered a few factors linked with the increased likelihood of vaccination recommendation, including:

  • MenB disease outbreaks (89%),
  • Disease incidence (62%), and
  • Effectiveness (52%), safety (48%), and duration of protection of MenB vaccine (39%).

 

“Our data reveal a lack of familiarity with many aspects of the MenB disease and the MenB vaccine among primary care providers,” the researchers write. “For example, the incidence of the MenB disease, the vaccines’ effectiveness, and the duration of protection afforded by the vaccines were among the top 5 reasons supporting a higher likelihood of provider recommendation.”

 

“Providers were also more likely to recommend the MenB vaccine at precollege visits rather than routine 16- to 18-year-old health maintenance visits, as recommended by the ACIP, possibly as the result of the extensive publicity around college outbreaks of the MenB disease.”

 

—Amanda Balbi

 

Reference:

Kempe A, Allison MA, MacNeil JR, et al. Adoption of serogroup B meningococcal vaccine recommendations. Pediatrics. 2018;142(3). doi:10.1542/peds.2018-0344.