73: “World Meningitis Day: Have Your Children Been Vaccinated for Meningitis B? - a podcast by Dr. Donnica Moore

Topic: “World Meningitis Day: Have Your Children Been Vaccinated for Meningitis B?”
Guests: Patti Wukovits and Alicia Stillman
For more information: www.MeningitisBActionProject.org

We’ve heard a lot about the measles outbreak recently. This is a travesty on so many levels because measles is a highly contagious but vaccine preventable illnesses that was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. Today, in support of World Meningitis Day, we’re going to talk about another vaccine preventable illness starting with M: meningitis.

Our guests are both meningitis B advocates for the worst possible reason: they each lost a teenaged daughter to the disease, before a meningitis B vaccine was available in the US. While the meningitis conjugated vaccines have been available for 4 other strains of meningitis since 2005 (Menactra ®  and Menveo ® ), the first meningitis vaccine was available since 1978. The meningitis B vaccine, however, only became available in the US in late 2014 (Bexsero ®  and Trumenba ® ).
 
Patti Wukovits is a Registered Nurse and meningitis advocate who lost her 17-year-old daughter Kimberly to Meningitis B in 2012. She has since started the Kimberly Coffey Foundation to improve awareness of meningococcal disease and the vaccines available to help prevent it.
Patti lives in Massapequa Park, NY, with her husband John. In addition to Kimberly, she has three other adult children. 
 
Alicia Stillman is a meningitis advocate who lost her 19-year-old daughter Emily to Meningitis B in 2013. She has since started the Emily Stillman Foundation to improve awareness of
meningococcal disease, the vaccines available to help prevent it, and to encourage organ and tissue donation. Alicia lives with her husband in West Bloomfield, Michigan, where she is the CFO of a multi-state law firm. In addition to Emily, she has two other adult children.
Patti & Alicia—and their foundations, the Kimberly Coffey Foundation & the Emily Stillman Foundation—have partnered together to launch the Meningitis B Action Project.

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