A new petition urges the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to recommend the bacterial meningitis vaccine for infants and children. LGBT activists started the petition in response to the recent bacterial meningitis outbreak among men who have sex with men (MSM). A New York City health official claims that the campaign to first vaccinate sexually active HIV-positive MSM, followed by all sexually active MSM, appears to have stopped the outbreak. Petition organizers argue that children living in the more than 115,000 same-sex U.S. households should be protected. They also claim that not vaccinating children reduces the herd immunity that protects people with HIV from meningitis. ACIP meets later this month to decide whether to make the recommendation.

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