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Is the Meningitis vaccination a requirement for boys entering most Yeshiva dorms, as it is for students moving into many state university dorms or on-campus housing options?
Thank you ☺
No, of course not.
WB Health!
In the USA, the individual states set their on requirements. You have to ask about each state individually. It is recommended by the CDC.
Actually, that varies by the US state. Here in CT the individual health district makes the rules.
We have exchange students from China living in an apartment we own. Two attend school in one town, the other 5 miles away in a second town. One health department requires annual TB retesting One does not. One town requires meningitis shots for dorm students the other does notctl: Thanks for your clarification. I was taking my info from the CDC which indicated state level jurisdiction, not local.
The route of transmission of these bacteria is via intimate contact which is why it usually presents in college dorms where the kind of behavior that facilitates transmission is rampant. Presumably this is not such an issue in a Yeshiva Dorm. Even in colleges one must bare in mind that it is not just the transmission of the bacteria that is the issue. Many people harbor these and other potentially harmful bacteria and yet never exhibit any illness. So one has to look at the environment of a college dorm as well. The people there may often be stressed by the heavy workload coupled with bad diet and lack of sleep all contributing to lowered immune function.
Keep in mind that there are two infectious causes of meningitis – bacterial and viral. Bacterial meningitis is spread by close contact, including droplets from coughing. Viral meningitis often occurs after another viral illness like measles.
Meningitis is a deadly disease.
Joe -“WB Health!”
Sorry, I didn’t go anywhere. Look at YWN HOME, were I post sometimes.
In NY State it used to be voluntary. Recently they made it mandatory as I found out when my son’s Yeshiva called me. I told them he received enough vaccinations in his life so just send me the religious exemption form and so they did. Now I just have to fill it out and email it back but I’m too busy typing important comments in the YWN Coffee Room!
” …..Presumably this is not such an issue in a Yeshiva Dorm…”
Hopefully you are correct but as a purely public health matter, the CDC strongly encourages the vaccination as do most state heath departments. There also are studies indicating transmission vectors via non-sexual but still “close” physical contacts which may very well be a concern in a yeshiva dorm where the bochurim “horse around” and engage in the same types of physical interactions as in any dorm. Also, there are very few side effects from meningococcal conjugate vaccine used to protect against bacterial meningitis. To my knowledge, there is no vaccine against the viral form of the disease.
@iacissrmma
The CDC is not wrong. They leave the decision to the states. Then some states such as CT, pass this to local health districts (some are one municipality, some multi)
I still teach one course a semester as an adjunct in a Mass, Law School. When I teach either Local Government or Constitutional Law, I always make a point that the only government entities that exist under the constitution are the Federal and State levels. Local government is a creation of the individual states. CT did away with County Government in about 1960. Approx 6 years ago, a local town was uncooperative in building a regional Magnet High School. The Governor and State Legislature got upset with the local First Selectmen, so they simply took almost 50 acres of that town’s land and annexed it to the abutting municipality and built the school on it. The town had no standing to stop this, states can redraw boundaries at will.
East12th -“The route of transmission of these bacteria is via intimate contact ”
This is true.
Arielski -” Bacterial meningitis is spread by close contact, including droplets from coughing.”
Also true!
E/O should get the shot, not just guys in Yeshiva!Arielski -“Keep in mind that there are two infectious causes of meningitis – bacterial and viral.”
Actually there are 3 types of meningitis – Bacterial, Viral & Fungal.
I told them he received enough vaccinations in his life so just
send me the religious exemption form and so they did.I wasn’t aware of the part of Judaism that mandates
not being vaccinated under the circumstances.I cant speak for all yeshivas, or all dorms, but, the yeshiva that my boys attend, requires it.
LB -“Health: If you received your first and only Meningitis vaccine at age 20, do you need to be vaccinated again at any other point in your life if you’re not working in healthcare?”
From the CDC:
“Adults
Meningococcal vaccines are recommended for certain groups of adults at increased risk for meningococcal disease. Each meningococcal vaccine is listed below with which groups of adults are recommended to get it.Meningococcal Conjugate Vaccine Recommendations
Adults should get a meningococcal conjugate vaccine (Menactra® or Menveo®) if they:Have a rare type of disorder (complement component deficiency)
Are taking a medicine called Soliris®
Have a damaged spleen or their spleen has been removed
Have HIV
Are a microbiologist who is routinely exposed to Neisseria meningitidis
Are traveling to or residing in countries in which the disease is common
Are part of a population identified to be at increased risk because of a serogroup A, C, W, or Y meningococcal disease outbreak
Are not up to date with this vaccine and are a first-year college student living in a residence hall
Are a military recruit
Talk to your doctor to find out if, and when, you will need booster shots.Serogroup B Meningococcal Vaccine Recommendations
Adults should get a serogroup B meningococcal vaccine (Bexsero® or Trumenba®) if they:Have a rare type of disorder (complement component deficiency)
Are taking a medicine called Soliris®
Have a damaged spleen or their spleen has been removed
Are a microbiologist who is routinely exposed to Neisseria meningitidis
Are part of a population identified to be at increased risk because of a serogroup B meningococcal disease outbreak”What is the halacha on vaccinations?
Arielski -“What is the halacha on vaccinations?”
Most hold you should get them!
Where does “Halacha” speak directly to vaccinations?? As a practical matter, what rational Rav would knowingly advise against getting a vaccination unless the consensus of public health officials would also advise against it? And if there was such advice against the consensus of medical experts, one should quickly find a new rav/posek who would not put him/her at risk.
Katanhaboring: As a practical matter what puny apikorus mind would deem a Rav rational or irrational unless the consensus of Rabonim made such a decision? And if there was such a pathetic little arrogant mind it should quickly do teshuvah and not put it’s neshama at risk!
Oh, and my name is not Binyamin no matter how many times you write it, Katanhador!GH -“And if there was such advice against the consensus of medical experts, one should quickly find a new rav/posek who would not put him/her at risk.-”
There are Rabbonim who hold that you don’t have to get vaccinated. Because there are risks involved.
I personally hold of most vaccines.From the bottom of the “bor”, the view is a bit blurry but Binyamin’s willingness to ignore the consensus of real medical experts and blindly substitute the advice of his Rav on the risks of vaccination is truly admirable…..just don’t bother sending your kids to school or coming in close contact with otherwise rational yidden who don’t go to their physician to paskin on the the kashruth of their local Chinese take out place or whether they can ingest the cute little bugs on the romaine in the Caesar salad. Wisdom is knowing from whom to seek knowledge on a particular subject. Since its now eruv Shabbos I can wish you a gutten Shabbos and stay healthy.
Lightbrite; Someone who consistently mocks Daas Torah by not only her silly posts but by her username as well needs to be called out, consistently!
KH’s usual Hellenistic pap directed to my supposed penname Binyamin is not even worthy of a detailed rebuttal. It so reeks of her customary apikorsus, I don’t even want to get close to it. All her usual Hellenistic buzzwords are there; rational, wisdom etc. Hopefully the bor she put herself into is not the one from “moridin velo ma’alin”. That would be truly sad. I was referring to bor as in boring, same old same old boring apikorsus.
Uncle Ben – Unless you follow his/her’s advice of -“just don’t bother sending your kids to school”, in this case he/she is correct; no matter what Psak you happened to get!
Greetings from the Greek Isles and a special shout out to Binyamin.
While I’m not sure if being called a “Hellenist” is sort of like being designatd an upscale apikores, I go back to a simple point that in matters of public health such as vaccination against highly infectious diseases, our primary sources of guidance are medical and public health professionals, not a rav or posek, no disrepect to the latter. If something about the medical advice we receive raises a red flag, than certainly discussing it with you R/P may be warranted and he may offer some useful guidance as to reconciling that advice with halacha. If the Rav himself is not also a medical professional, it was be malpractice for him to render medical opinions. We are not like the goyishe lunatics who refuse medical care, transfusions etc. because doing so might contradict their misguided notion of hashgacha paratis (i.e. if you are sick its (R’L) “God’s will” and seeking medical intervention is to disrupt “God’s” will. Even if you want to put yourself and your own family at risk by foregoing recommended vaccinantion s (with the concurrence of your R/P), you have zero right to project your foolishness on the rest of the Tzibur and place others at risk.Having said that, hoping all the CR family including UB) stays well and is up-to-date on the ir shots.
De-lurking for a moment….
A thousand years ago Rav Sherirah Gaon established the halachah that we follow doctors and not rabbis on medical matters and that has been universally accepted.
Back to lurking….
HI CHARLIE !!
Hey Charlie…..we now have Yosef and Binyamin (rather than Milhouse) to kick around…I remember a similar debate about 7 or 8 years ago about the wisdom of substituting the advice of a rav for that of a medical professional. Fake news then, fake news now….rabbonim paskin Halacha and give musar, doctors paskin diagnostic and treatment protocols.
Have fun lurking
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