GMHC Celebrates Passage of NY's Meningitis Vaccination Bill

Today, the New York State Legislature passed one of GMHC's top legislative priorities, a bill that will help protect people living with HIV and AIDS from meningitis, a serious infection of the brain and spinal cord.

New York now joins 28 states in requiring meningitis vaccinations for youth in public schools in accordance with CDC recommendations. Previously, New York State only required that colleges and universities provide education about meningitis and the vaccine to incoming students. Even with treatment, up to one-third of meningitis victims die.

HIV-positive people are even more susceptible to meningitis and more likely to die. In fact, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, over half (55%) of bacterial meningitis infections that occurred in New York City from August 2010 to March 2013 were among HIV-positive New Yorkers, and a greater proportion of deaths occurred among those who were HIV positive (32%) than those who were HIV negative (20%).

"Meningitis is a silent killer, but gratefully there is a vaccine that is safe, effective, and life-saving," said GMHC CEO Kelsey Louie. "GMHC led public education and outreach throughout the deadly meningitis outbreak in New York City that started in 2012. Our vaccination efforts were extensive and went beyond the traditional response of providing vaccinations in our testing clinic in Manhattan.

GMHC knows the success of going out into the community we serve, and two doctors on GMHC's board, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis and Dr. Frank Spinnelli, provided over 2,600 vaccinations in bars and clubs, on Fire Island, and at other locations throughout New York City. While these efforts helped to end the outbreak, GMHC's work had only just begun.

Our Public Affairs and Policy team worked tirelessly to advocate for this bill in collaboration with medical professional associations and families who lost loved ones to meningitis. GMHC thanks Assembly Member Gunther and Senator Hannon for their leadership on this bill and we call on Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign it as soon as possible."

To achieve this victory, GMHC partnered with over a dozen organizations and patient advocacy groups, including The American Academy of Pediatrics, Latino Commission on AIDS, Kimberly Coffey Foundation, March of Dimes, Medical Society of the State of New York, Meningitis Angels, National Meningitis Association, The Nurse Practitioner Association New York State, New York State Academy of Family Physicians, and the New York Chapter of the American College of Physicians.

Throughout the year, our Public Affairs and Policy team traveled to Albany nearly every week during the legislative session to educate elected leaders and public officials about meningitis and the vaccine. Additionally, GMHC hosted a lobby day in May bringing over thirty GMHC clients to Albany where they met with over three dozen legislators and their staff to discuss GMHC's legislative priorities.

In May, GMHC also hosted a press conference in Albany in support of the bill, which featured several families who lost loved ones to meningitis, including Kevin Cummines, whose fiance Kyle Spidle was one of the first HIV-positive gay men to die from the outbreak in 2012. GMHC also published Kevin's story about Kyle's death and promoted our advocacy for the bill to our 7,700 Facebook followers, 12,000 Twitter followers, and 30,000 email subscribers.

In partnership with the Medical Society of the State of New York, we empowered GMHC's followers to send nearly 100 emails to their elected officials asking for them to support this bill.

For more information about meningitis, the outbreak in New York City, and GMHC's public education and meningitis vaccination campaign, you can read "How to Beat an Outbreak," written by Drs. Spinnelli and Daskalakis and published in 2013 in POZ magazine.