The Invulnerability Myth
A recent outbreak of meningitis in Kent, England, harkens back to an unusual series of events at Princeton and Drexel universities months before a meningococcal vaccine was licensed.
In March 2026, an outbreak of meningococcal meningitis and sepsis occurred at the University of Kent in the southeastern corner of England. Twenty cases were confirmed and nine were suspected. All confirmed cases were hospitalized and virtually all were caused by the serogroup B strain of meningococcus (i.e., MenB) for which a vaccine is available. Two students died during the outbreak: one was an unnamed student at the University, the other was Juliette Kenny, a 12th grader at a nearby high school. More than 8,000 doses of the vaccine were administered to anxious students.
Meningococcus often occurs on college campuses. Activities that increase the risk of meningococcal infections include kissing, sharing beverages, sharing vapes, or living in shared housing; in other words, virtually all college students are at risk.
Meningococcus is similar to other bacterial infections like pneumococcus and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) in that all cause sepsis and meningitis, with one important difference. Meningococcus has a greater capacity to make endotoxin rapidly; children can be fine one minute and dead four hours later. For this reason, no bacterium causes greater panic in the community than meningococcus. CDC officials have noted that they can determine the incidence of meningococcal infections by simply reading local newspapers. About 1 in 10 people infected with meningococcus will die from the infection and 20 percent will be left with permanent disabilities such as deafness, seizures, limb amputations, and severe mental defects.
The Kent outbreak harkens back to a MenB outbreak at Princeton University that occurred between March 2013 and March 2014 when 8 students developed meningitis or sepsis. The difference between the Kent and Princeton outbreaks was the availability of a MenB vaccine. In 2013, although the MenB vaccine, Bexero, had been licensed in Canada, Australia, and Europe, it hadn’t yet been licensed in the United States. Nonetheless, the FDA allowed this unlicensed vaccine to be given to Princeton students under a “compassionate use” protocol. Between December 2013 and November 2014, in clinics run mostly by student volunteers, more than 98% of all undergraduate students safely received at least one dose of the two-dose vaccine, and 96% received both doses. A remarkable achievement. By the spring of 2015, the risk of meningococcal disease at Princeton was no greater than on other campuses. One student, in a parody of grade inflation at a rival institution, wore a T-shirt that read, “Would have been MenA at Harvard.”
On March 18, 2024, in the midst of the Princeton outbreak, Stephanie Ross, a 19-year-old student at Drexel University in Philadelphia, died of Men B from the same strain that had caused the outbreak in Princeton. Ross had been in contact with students at Princeton, which was only an hour away. The difference between the Princeton and Drexel cases was that Stephanie Ross was the only case of MenB at Drexel. Because no other students had apparently been infected, the CDC didn’t consider the Drexel case to be an outbreak. Therefore, the FDA didn’t offer the MenB vaccine to Drexel students under a “compassionate use” protocol. Parents, however, were scared that their children were still at risk. Many drove up to Canada—where the MenB vaccine was licensed—purchased the vaccine, and brought it back to Philadelphia.
Members of parent advocacy groups like Families Fighting Flu and Meningitis Angels represent children who have died of vaccine-preventable diseases. These parents all tell the same story. “I can’t believe this happened to me.” Until it happened to them. Then they bravely make it their life’s mission to warn other parents about the dangers of the disease and the value of vaccines.
Every year in the United States between 300 and 500 people are infected with meningococcus, half of those cases are caused by MenB. We shouldn’t wait until a disease is at our doorstep to vaccinate our teenagers before they enter college. Like the students at Kent, Princeton, and Drexel, we all suffer from this myth of invulnerability. That a disease will never happen to us. Until it does.
I’ve always been confused why the US doesn’t vaccinate the infants and toddlers. I’m a US trained Peds ID physician now living in the UK. It’s a disease with a bimodal peak and we can’t ignore the youngest. I appreciate that the UK vaccinates early.
In the U.K. the meningococcal B vaccine forms part of our childhood vaccine schedule, however this has only been in the last decade. This means that meningococcal B meningitis outbreaks in the vulnerable population are likely to occur over the next few years, until those babies vaccinated in 2015 reach adolescence and then reach university age in 2033. If there is an outbreak then at risk populations are offered the vaccine. We have vaccinated babies against Meningitis A,C,W and Y for several years.