Area colleges to follow state lead on vaccinations for frosh

2/12/2005

Area college officials said they'd follow the state's lead on whether to require freshmen to be vaccinated for meningitis.

The University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University, and Ohio State University don't require vaccination but do inform their students about the vaccination's availability.

A panel advising the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for the first time that all college freshmen who live in dormitories be vaccinated against the disease.

Ohio does not require that students be vaccinated for the disease. However, a law passed last year requires students living on campus to disclose whether they have been vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis (one of three forms of bacterial meningitis) as well as another disease, hepatitis B. It takes effect this fall.

Jay Carey, an Ohio Department of Health spokesman, said it's too early to tell if the state will re-evaluate its position in light of the panel's new recommendations.