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Last February, a Texas A&M student from Sugar Land died from bacterial Meningitis. After that parents, educators and lawmakers said no more. Together they helped pass a law requiring all incoming freshman in Texas to get a meningitis vaccination.
Anna Dragsbaek is with the Immunization Partnership.
“The new law takes effect January first, but we’re trying to get the word out to people as they get all their back to school tasks that his is an important thing to remember that in January they will need that vaccine.”
The law doesn’t actually take effect until the first of the year, but they’d like freshman entering in the fall to get vaccinated as well. Dragsbaek says college students are more at risk and they should all get the shot regardless of when the law kicks in.
“We have lost several college students in Texas to this disease. It’s a very scary disease, because it moves very quickly. You can be healthy one day and dead the next. There’s not a whole lot of warning.”
Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. It affects about 3-thousand people in the U.S each year. A large portion of those are ages 15- 24.