Teenagers should get vaccinated to protect against the bacteria that causes meningococcal meningitis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends in a report published Thursday.
Publication in the Jan. 27 issue of "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" formalizes the recommendations made this fall by the federal agency's advisory committee on immunization practices.
The committee's guidelines call for "routine vaccination of adolescents, preferably at age 11 or 12 years, with a booster dose at age 16," the report says of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine.
