Atlanta – Young people who get a new meningitis shot may be at a slightly higher risk of developing a paralyzing side effect, federal researchers said Thursday.
Even so, federal health officials said the benefits far outweigh the risk of getting the rare condition, Guillain-Barre syndrome.
They are not backing off their recommendation that most students be vaccinated.
The researchers cautioned that they are uncertain about their risk estimate, and a larger study is being planned.
They found the added risk was 1.25 cases of GBS for every 1 million doses of vaccine distributed.
“It’s a very small risk,” said one of the study’s authors, Dr. Robert Davis of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who noted the risk of getting meningitis without the shot is far greater.
A federal vaccination-advisory committee is to discuss the research next week when it takes a new look at the government’s meningitis vaccine recommendations, CDC officials said.
The research was reported Thursday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The vaccine, Menactra, is made by Sanofi Pasteur, which said it tested it in more than 10,000 people.
The company reported no cases of Guillain-Barre, which is characterized by increasing weakness in the legs and arms, sometimes severe enough to cause paralysis.
The government approved the vaccine for marketing in January 2005, and the CDC recommended it for routine vaccination four months later.
