SAN ANTONIO -- If you’re a college student or a parent of a college student, there’s a new state law that could impact you.
It requires all Texas college and university students to be immunized against meningitis, whether they live on campus or not.
Just a few months ago, 20-year-old Texas A&M University student Nico Williams died from meningitis. He was not living in a dorm and not required to get the vaccination. Now, the law has changed.
At Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, only about a fifth of the 2700 students live on campus, but all are sharing space and interacting in close quarters.
“People go to class together. They play sports together. They dine together. And it’s important that both commuters and resident students have the vaccine for meningitis,” explained OLLU spokesman Dan Yoxall.
Jennifer Parrish Cole’s mother knows the risk of the disease that caused inflammation of the membranes around her brain and spinal cord ten years ago when she was an Aggie.
“We almost lost her. She was in very bad shape,” mother Paula Parrish remembered. “Meningitis is a very frightening experience. And students in college are at terrible risk for that.”
Since the bill requiring the shot was only passed in late May, many campuses are using these summer months to inform students and parents to inform students and parents about the change. It’s a new law campus administrators are embracing.
“I think it’s important that students feel safe, comfortable, and are prepared to enjoy themselves at college and not have the threat or the worry of contracting meningitis,” Yoxall stated.
“You don’t know who’s going to get it or who’s going to have it,” Parrish said. “And being prepared against it is the best way to not get meningitis.
The only way to opt out of the vaccine at Our Lady of the Lake is if you claim a religious exemption, are over 30, or take all of your classes online.
