National Meningitis B Awareness Day in the United States

24 April 2018

This World Meningitis Day, CoMO members Patti Wukovits (of The Kimberly Coffey Foundation) and Alicia Stillman (of The Emily Stillman Foundation) will join U.S. Congressman Erik Paulsen (MN) and Congressman Mike Bishop (MI) in Washington D.C. to introduce a Resolution to the U.S. House of Representatives that would designate April 24th as National Meningitis B Awareness Day in the United States.

The mothers hope the Resolution will bring awareness of meningococcal B meningitis to a new level and encourage policy makers to support broader access to the vaccines available to help prevent it.

Since losing their daughters 5 years ago to a now vaccine-preventable disease, meningococcal B meningitis, the mothers have been working to increase awareness through their individual foundations and most recently through their new initiative, the Meningitis B Action Project. The project arms parents and young adults with the information they need to proactively talk to their healthcare provider about meningococcal B meningitis and the MenB vaccines. It also encourages the medical community and school, college and university administrators to inform patients and students about the availability of the MenB vaccines.

Two separate meningitis vaccines are necessary to help protect against meningococcal disease, one of the most common types of bacterial meningitis, and while most have received the MenACWY vaccine in the US, few have received a MenB vaccine due to lack of awareness.

While in Washington D.C., to highlight the strength of the meningitis community, Patti and Alicia will also meet with policymakers to share a letter of support signed by meningitis and vaccination advocates from around the world.

You can find out more about the Resolution and the Meningitis B Action Project here. You can also follow the day’s events on their Facebook and Twitter pages.