Father who lost son to meningitis B urges parents to get kids vaccinated before school
Global News
Meningitis B, the most common and deadly strain of meningitis, is rare but can lead to severe and life-threatening complications when contracted.
More than two years after his 19-year-old son died suddenly from meningitis B, Norrie Matthews is urging parents to get their children vaccinated against the disease before the start of the school year.
Meningitis B, the most common and deadly strain of meningitis, is rare but can lead to severe and life-threatening complications when contracted.
That’s what happened to Kai Matthews the year he was studying kinesiology at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.
“We lost our son, Kai Matthews, in June of 2021 to meningitis B,” Matthews told Global News. “And after we lost Kai, we were completely blindsided by the fact that we thought we had vaccinated him when he was in Grade 7 for meningitis.”
While anyone can get meningitis, younger people and students are often more susceptible due to their communal living arrangements, such as residing on campus, as well as sharing personal items like utensils, drinks and cigarettes.
The bacteria causing meningitis are transmitted from person to person through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions from carriers, according to the World Health Organization.
“Close and prolonged contact – such as kissing, sneezing or coughing on someone, or living in close quarters with an infected person, facilitates the spread of the disease,” it says.
Kai received the meningococcal quadrivalent vaccine (which covers groups A, C, Y and W) for meningitis. However, this routine vaccination doesn’t provide protection against meningitis B. To safeguard against that strain, another vaccine is required, which costs money and requires a request to one’s family physician, Matthews said.
