Kimberly Coffey Foundation Launches "Strive For Five" Meningitis B Awareness Campaign

MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. - Aug. 8, 2016 - PRLog -- The Kimberly Coffey Foundation today launched a new online, digital campaign aimed at raising awareness of Meningitis B (MenB), also known as group B meningococcal disease, and the importance of high school and college-aged kids to be vaccinated against the deadly disease.

Through a series of online educational materials, the Foundation hopes to get parents, kids and their healthcare providers talking about the disease, which can prove deadly in just a matter of hours.

There is one meningococcal vaccine which helps protect against groups A, C, W & Y.  A separate vaccine is necessary to help protect against MenB. In order to have maximum protection against all 5 common groups, two separate vaccines are necessary.  Many states, but not all, require college-aged students to be vaccinated against meningitis, but do not include MenB vaccination in that requirement. The vaccines for MenB were recommended by the CDC in 2015, but their availability and importance is still widely unknown.

MenB accounts for nearly 50% of meningitis cases diagnosed in people between the ages 17-23, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Throughout the campaign, parents and teens will be encouraged to "Strive for 5" to ensure that high school and college aged kids are vaccinated against all five groups of meningococcal disease.

Patti Wukovits, RN, Founder of The Kimberly Coffey Foundation knows the reality of meningitis all too well. Patti started the organization after having lost her 17-year-old daughter, Kimberly, to MenB in 2012.  Since then, she has made it her mission to make sure other parents don't suffer a similar loss.

Raising awareness is critically important as new survey data shows that many parents are uninformed about the dangers of MenB.   The recently released National Meningococcal Disease Awareness Survey (http://media.wix.com/ugd/f511ea_9ba3b35141394f91813de8362...) revealed that 83% of parents surveyed were not aware of the difference between MenB and other groups of the disease. Additionally, nearly 4 out of 5 parents didn't know their child wasn't fully protected against meningococcal disease without the additional vaccine.

"When we lost Kim to MenB there was no vaccine to prevent the disease." said Wukovits. "There are now vaccines to help protect against MenB, but they're not part of the standard meningitis vaccination. So unless you know to ask your doctor, kids aren't fully protected. We must do everything we can to raise awareness of MenB and make sure kids are vaccinated so another family doesn't lose a child to this potentially vaccine preventable disease."

MenB has been responsible for outbreaks on college campuses across the country, including Rutgers University, Providence College, Yale, Princeton University and the University of Oregon, where one student died from the disease.

For more information on the Kimberly Coffey Foundation and MenB go to: www.KimberlyCoffeyFoundation.org.