Use of a Serogroup B Meningococcal Vaccine During the Princeton University Meningitis Outbreak

From March through November 2013, seven cases of serogroup B meningococcal disease occurred among Princeton University undergraduate students; an eighth case occurred in a high school student who had stayed in a Princeton dormitory. Typing of isolates from these patients revealed identical strains. In the absence of a licensed serogroup B meningococcal vaccine in the U.S., the CDC submitted an expanded-access Investigational New Drug application to the FDA to allow use of the 4CMenB vaccine, which was already licensed in Europe and Australia. The CDC, the New Jersey Department of Health, and Princeton University collaborated to provide the two-dose immunization series to undergraduate students, graduate students living in dormitories, and s…