NY Legislature adds meningitis to list of required vaccines for students

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York's Legislature has voted to add meningitis to the list of illnesses requiring immunizations for public and private school students.

The list already includes polio, mumps, measles, rubella, whooping cough, diphtheria, Hepatitis B, chickenpox, Haemophilus influenza and pneumococcal disease.

The bill passed by the Assembly and Senate says that the meningitis vaccination is required for students entering seventh or 12th grades in September 2016.

Sponsors say a single dose is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control at age 11 or 12 with a booster at age 16. More than 20 states require this vaccine. The CDC says about 1,000 people annually get the disease and up to 15 percent die.

Infections inflame membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord.