Class bias rears it's ugly head. Princeton students get free vaccine for meningitis, UCSB told wait and see.We demand voluntary free VAX for workers including dumpster divers and university janitors at risk!
A petition from the campaign to
Teach everywhere about community health.
WWW.causes.com/teach
A petition to CDC Meningitis and UCSB Medical and Community Leaders
URGENT ACTION ALERT
Tell the CDC to approve the Meningitis vaccine for ALL at risk individuals. TIME SENSITIVE * PLEASE LINK AND REPOST Folow twitter.com/ActVInfectiousD
Meningitis B is horrible but it is preventable. Unfortunately, the vaccine, approved in the EU, is not available in the USA.
As .national media has demonstrated, the people want the Bexsero vaccine under the same Investigational New Drug protocol as at Princeton.
However the Princeton target population excludes the janitors who clean the bathrooms and the student health care workers who work directly with sick students EVEN IF THEY PAY or their Union pays the cost of Bexsero vaccination themselves!
Isla Vista is the community Iin which UCSB is situated. Unlike Princeton, it has a warm Mediterranean climate which is conducive to outdoor living year round. There are estimated to be ,6000 houseless (or homeless") folks in the county. Many of these call Isla Vista their home
Indeed, this has been the case since at least the sixties and seventies. when this 'Little Berkeley' boasted its' own Tipi Village and sought incorporation as an actual town.
Sadly. ,the longstanding homeless lunch program shut its doors a few months ago. As a result, too many of these urban nomads scrounge food from dumpsters or survive off scraps and leftovers.
These folks are at high risk of aquiring bacterial meningitis, There a no place else to get something to eat if one is flat broke and many shrug off the risk of disease.
However, HEAL (Health Empowerment and Love), a project of Santa Barbara Interfaith Initiative, had successfully promoted flu shots and supported the Cough Hygiene Initiative, We distribute hand sanitizer and give LED headlamps to Neighbors Without Homes who learn about disease prevention through our outreach.
What works for influenza can work for meningitis, Just as many unhoused people eagerly seek a flu shot for protection during the often rainy flu season, many will embrace protection from the virulent menace posed by meningococcus IF THE GOVERNMENT ALLOWS IT!
All recipients hereto are earnestly requested to apply the resources and influence of their good offices to advocate for and expedite implementation of an Investigational New Drug approval for Novartis Bexsero in such manner aforesaid as to be available to all who are at heightened risk of exposure to virulent meningococcus which has so unexpectedly and tragically attacked the University community.
https://www.causes.com/actions/1764729-a-petition-to-dr-thomas-friedan-director-and-dr-thomas-clark-meningitis-lead-at-the-cdc
Progress
64
signed
36
more needed
Thanks for signing the petition
Dr. Thomas Friedan Director
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Thomas Clark
Director
Meningitis Branch, CDC
Dr.Takashi Wada, Director, SBCo DPH
Dr. Charity Thoman, Disease Control. SBCo DPH
Dr. Fenzi, Director
Isla Vista Neighborhood Clinic
Dr.Mary Ferris, UCSB SH
Ralph Barbosa, Director. Healthcare for the Homeless, SBCo DPH
US Representative Lois Capps, RN
State Senator Hanna-Beth Jackson
State Assemblyman Das Williams
First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal, Chairman of the Board
Third District Supervisor and C3H Rep. Doreen Farr
Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, C3H
Mayor Helene Schneider C3H Executive
Councilman Dale Francisco, C3H Executive
Fr. Jon-Stephen Hedges, St.Bridgett's Outreach
RE: Meningitis B outbreak;
Expedited IND for Bexsero with broad inclusion of at-risk indigent persons
GREETINGS:
Please support an expedited IND to bring the Bexsero vaccine to the whole at-risk community impacted by the highly unusual confluence of meningitis B at the University of Caiifornia at Santa Barbara.
Four cases of bacterial meningitis B cannot be addressed simply by passing out antibiotics and admonishments about cough hygiene and hand washing. It is well known and not in controversy that Ciprofloxacin has a limited efficacy and despite giving it to a thousand students there is no way of knowing how many additional asymptomatic carriers are out and about in the feisty college community of Isla Vista.
Princeton, which has Bexsero, has experienced an extended outbreak over many months, and even summer break did not interrupt the continuing incidence of menB. Yet UCSB in just a few weeks has had as many cases as Princeton had after several months.
Since the attack rate at UCSB is so high, with such a rapid spread, we are not expecting regulators ti impose any further delays.
A science minded university like UCSB which has handled numerous forest fire evacuations and earthquake drills at the Thunderdome should certainly be capable of managing cold chain distribution of this vaccine. The vaccine is available in England, where several people have died during recent days because the vaccine, though approved, is deemed as not cost effective.
We don't put a price on human life and don't expect the Center for Disease control to pay the expense. The financial issues are not the problem for which CDC is charged anyway. That will be addressed by the State MediCal authorities and administrators of Medical Indigent Aid (MIA).
Please submit the IND to FDA and remove the regulatory barrier to this much-desired miracle drug.
Importantly the TARGET POPULATION MUST INCLUDE HI RISK INDIGENT PERSONS. Please ensure that the BROADEST vaccine availability is assured. Many indigent persons, houseless, homeless, attracted by the warm climate who lived off scraps and who dumpster dive on the campus are especially at risk. Please be aware of the different conditions at Santa Barbara and tailor the IND accordingly.
Thank you for your continuing diligence, wise deliberation and fast action in these matters.
Geof Bard
Outreach Coordinator
Cough Hygiene Initiative of
HEAL (Health Empowerment and Love)
A Project of Interfaith Initiative of Santa Barbara
DRAFTED THIS DOCUMENT
December 16, 2013
Reverend Douglass J. Miller
Chairman, HEAL
SIGNED December 16, 2013
Petra Lowen
Disability Advocate
Central Coast Collaborative on Housing
SIGNED Dec 16,2013
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Original: Action Alert: Workers, Students, Houseless Deserve Equal Access