The FDA recently approved 2 serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) vaccines for use in persons aged 10 to 25 years, and now the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has issued the following new recommendations:

• A MenB vaccine series may be administered to adolescents and young adults aged 16 to 23 years to provide short-term protection against most strains of serogroup B meningococcal disease.

• The preferred age for MenB vaccination is 16 to 18 years.

• MenB vaccine should either be administered as a 3-dose series of MenB-FHbp or a 2-dose series of MenB-4C.

• The 2 MenB vaccines are not interchangeable; the same vaccine products must be used for all doses.

Citation: MacNeil JR, Rubin L, Folaranmi T, Ortega-Sanchez IR, Patel M, Martin SW. Use of serogroup B meningococcal vaccines in adolescents and young adults: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, 2015. MMWR. 2015;64(41):1171-1176.

Commentary: With widespread use of conjugate vaccines in adolescents and young adults, serogroup B now causes 40% of all meningococcal disease cases in this age group. Approximately 50 cases of MenB occur annually among 11- to 24-year-olds. Only approximately one-third of cases among 18- to 23-year- olds occur in college students. Given the low prevalence of disease, but the severity of the disease, the ACIP issued the recommendations above and concluded, “that insufficient evidence exists to make a routine public health recommendation that all adolescents be vaccinated with MenB vaccine but given the seriousness of meningococcal disease and the availability of licensed vaccines, ACIP agreed that sufficient evidence exists to encourage individual clinical decision making.” ­—Neil Skolnik, MD