ASMP In Action
Latest News & Activities
We are all about action here at the American Society for Meningitis Prevention. Below you can read all about our latest initiatives and activities to help prevent meningococcal meningitis. All activities before 2024 were conducted under the Meningitis B Action Project.
2020
New Video Alert: #BestFriendGoals
October 13, 2020
This one goes out to all the best friends out there! Have a friend with kids 16-23? Take Patti and Alicia’s advice and tell them to talk to their doctor or nurse about the Meningitis B vaccine.
August 12, 2020
Getting Candid with Glamour Magazine
Two moms, two daughters, one message. Patti and Alicia sat down with Glamour magazine to share their stories, unique friendship, and journey together to prevent Meningitis B.
Provider Survey to Understand How The MenB Vaccine is Used in Clinical Practice
July 20, 2020
The Meningitis B Action Project surveyed 524 healthcare providers in the United States to understand barriers to discussing and recommending the MenB vaccine and communication strategies used and to assess provider understanding of current ACIP recommendations.
We know that healthcare providers are not consistently discussing the Meningitis B vaccine with their patients. We explored why.
You can read the press release announcing the results here.
Ensuring Students are Vaccinated
May 29, 2020
Vaccinations have dropped by as much as 80% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Colleges should be concerned that fewer students may be returning to college with their vaccines completed on schedule – leaving students and campuses vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases such as meningitis, measles, or mumps.
We recognize the incredible work colleges and universities are currently doing to determine how to open campuses safely and appropriately for students. It is our position that comprehensive immunization policies are an integral part of that discussion and it is an essential time to review immunization requirements to ensure the health and wellness of students.
We are reaching out to colleges across the US to encourage them to review and revise their institution’s immunization requirements to ensure that students are fully vaccinated against critical vaccine-preventable diseases affecting young adults.
World Meningitis Day 2020
We developed two series of educational graphics to help spread awareness of Meningitis B for World Meningitis Day. Visit our educational graphics page to see them all. You can view, download, and share them to your social feed to increase MenB awareness!
April 24, 2020
Grand Rounds Presentation at Children's Hospital of Michigan
February 14, 2020
We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to share information about Meningitis B prevention to a group of healthcare providers, residents, and medical students at the Children's Hospital of Michigan on February 14th!
2019
Live from the American Public Health Association Meeting
November 6, 2019
Fall is a busy time of year for us and we were honored to have the opportunity to exhibit at the American Public Health Association meeting in Philadelphia, PA. This is the first time we exhibited to a public health audience and we were able to make many new connections to help us extend our reach among public health professionals.
Our latest video, Why Take the Chance, was selected to be screened at the APHA Film Festival!
MenB Vaccination in Clinical Practice Survey
October 24, 2019
Nearly 50% of pediatricians are not talking to their patients about the Meningitis B vaccine. We wanted (and needed!) to better understand why this is to support our future education and advocacy initiatives.
Live at the Largest Pediatrics Conference in the World (AAP 2019, New Orleans)
October 26, 2019
From October 26-28, we participated in the American Academy of Pediatrics meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.
We had the opportunity to talk to pediatricians from all over the country, a very important audience given that a recent study found that nearly 50% of pediatricians are not talking to their young patients about Meningitis B.
We also ran into some familiar faces: Dr. Paul Offit and Dr. Gary Marshall (pictured) from our medical council!
MenB Vaccination Learning Module by Medscape
September 26, 2019
We recently worked with Medscape to contribute our stories to one of their latest (and very much needed!) Continuing Education courses - "Case-by-Case: Preventing MenB Disease in Adolescents and Young Adults."The module, developed by one of the members of our Medical Council, Dr. Gary Marshall, includes two cases to help providers better understand and apply current Meningitis B vaccination recommendations.
Partnership with College Health TV
July 25, 2019
Starting next week, our educational videos about Meningitis B will be shown across 200 universities in 30 states through our new partner College Health TV.
College Health TV is the digital voice that speaks to students delivering an educational and entertaining streaming channel located at Colleges and Universities across the U.S. College Health TV’s campus network helps students make smart decisions with engaging, evidence-based and student-focused health video content covering a wide variety of subjects adjusted to resonate in the daily lives of college students.
National Association of School Nurses Conference
June 28, 2019
100+ school nurses signed up to improve awareness of Meningitis B vaccination in their schools during the 2019 National Association of School Nurses Conference in Denver, Colorado. Thank you for your support!
Meningitis B Action Project in Capitol Hill
Our co-founder Patti Wukovits had the honor of being invited by Vaccinate Your Family to film a video on Capitol Hill about Kimberly and Meningitis B and also had the opportunity to speak with Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to discuss the importance of a stronger and clearer vaccine recommendation for Meningitis B.
Other advocates shared their personal stories of vaccine-preventable diseases: flu, pertussis, and measles.
June 12, 2019
June 2019: Meningitis B Awareness Month in New York State
June 10, 2019
June 2019 has officially been recognized as Meningitis B Awareness month in New York State. Thank you to NY Senator Gustavo Rivera and to NY Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther for introducing the resolution. Throughout the month, we will be working to increase awareness of Meningitis B and the vaccine available to help prevent it among all New Yorkers.
It was during this month in 2012 that Kimberly Coffey, our co-founder’s Patti Wukovits’ 17-year-old daughter, passed away from Meningitis B one week before her high school graduation.
NY State Vaccine Exemption Policy
May 6, 2019
Our co-founder Patti Wukovits was in the New York State capital today with Dr. Joseph Sellers, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, and Senator Brad Hoylman to advocate for medical exemptions as the only permissible exemption (vs. religious and philosophical exemptions) for New York's vaccination requirement. Vaccine exemptions have become a significant issue following what is now the worst measles outbreak in the last two decades, with NY state leading in the number of cases. Read more here.
Day of Action Against MenB
April 24, 2019
On April 24, World Meningitis Day, the B-team created a wave of MenB awareness actions across the United States by committing to complete AT LEAST one action against MenB in every single state in the United States.
Together, we reached over 1 million people across all 50 states with one very important message - it takes two vaccines to be fully immunized against meningococcal disease - MenACWY and MenB.
Read our press release and view the compilation video below.
Meningitis B Action Project on Ladies’ Room with Dr. Donnica Podcast
April 23, 2019
Thank you B-teamer Dr. Donnica Moore for sharing our story in this week's episode of In the Ladies' Room with Dr. Donnica tp help us spread the word on MeningitisB on this Day of Action Against MenB.
Live at National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP)
March 8, 2019
Working hard at the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) conference today! Nurse practitioners are superheroes 🦸♀️ and incredibly important in our fight to increase MeningitisB vaccination rates.
2018
U.S. House of Representatives Resolution for World Meningitis Day
August 24, 2028
On World Meningitis Day (April 24), and during World Immunization Week, we, along with our partners and supporters, remembered the lives of our daughters and the countless other lives lost to, or affected by meningitis, and raised our voices to ensure no other parent or family needlessly suffers the same fate.
To mark the big week, we had an incredible opportunity to join U.S. Congressman Erik Paulsen (MN) and Congressman Mike Bishop (MI) in Washington D.C. to introduce a Resolution to the U.S. House of Representatives that would designate April 24th as National Meningitis B Awareness Day in the United States.
While in Washington D.C., we met with 40+ policymakers to share a letter of support signed by meningitis and vaccination advocates from around the world with a simple ask: to ask for their support in raising awareness of Meningitis B and ensuring broader access to the vaccine available to help prevent it.
Click here to read the full letter. You can also watch the resolution reading here, and related press conference here.