Menectra?

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

This is not a medical advice question. Is it worth it to get the Menectra Meningococcal vaccine? My co-workers and I were discussing this, because we feel that there are chances as health care workers to be exposed to all sorts of things, and meningitis is one of them. We have at least three colleges in our immediate area and it can very well be possible that we may have to treat a student that was exposed to this. If we are being offered vaccinations for Hep A and B and influenza, why not offer this, if we are the front line staff to possible encounter these situations? Any thoughts?

[TexasNurseEducator]

It sounds like you are an at risk population. Go to www.immunize.org and click on VIS Statement on left. This is the information on who should and should not take each vaccine. I have taken this as well as the Hep A series for food and water, Hep B series,done a adult polio booster and had my titers checked on MMR and varicella. Why? We had a nurse get chicken pox from a Shingles patient and after that I have done a better job of protecting myself. The good thing is most of these you only have to do once. I also do my flu each year. We are exposed to so much in our profession besides the fact that we need to not carry things to our patients.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

It sounds like you are an at risk population. Go to www.immunize.org and click on VIS Statement on left. This is the information on who should and should not take each vaccine. I have taken this as well as the Hep A series for food and water, Hep B series,done a adult polio booster and had my titers checked on MMR and varicella. Why? We had a nurse get chicken pox from a Shingles patient and after that I have done a better job of protecting myself. The good thing is most of these you only have to do once. I also do my flu each year. We are exposed to so much in our profession besides the fact that we need to not carry things to our patients.

I use that site frequently to make VIS for our patients. Basically, they mention what population should receive it, but they don't specify if health care workers should get as they would with Hepatitis, for example. I am thinking of asking my primary doctor to order the vaccine for me. I am just looking at the options, the same as the nurses that I had this conversation with. Personally, I believe that it should be offered the same way as Hepatitis, MMR and Varicella for health care workers. You don't know WHAT can walk into our areas of work. And, yes, just taking Menectra once is all I need. My son had to get it in order to register for college, so, I feel that we should have the same options. Thanks for sharing!