TOPLINE:

More than 80% of US adolescents received at least one dose of the meningococcal vaccine MenACWY. However, uptake of its first dose and completion of the booster dose varied by race or ethnicity, household income, and maternal education, and some racial groups had higher rates invasive meningococcal disease.

METHODOLOGY:

• In this retrospective cross-sectional study, researchers evaluated uptake of the MenACWY vaccine, dropout from its booster dose, and associated factors using 2016 to 2022 data from a teen survey of US adolescents aged 13-17 years.
• CDC surveillance data provided rates of incidence of invasive meningococcal disease.
• Dropout was defined as receiving the first dose of the vaccine at ages 10-15 years and no booster at ages 16-17 years.

TAKEAWAY:

• More than 80% of individuals across all groups received at least one dose of MenACWY vaccine. African American teens were more likely to receive at least one dose than White adolescents (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.33; P < .001).
• Hispanic adolescents were more likely to receive the vaccine (aOR, 1.20; P < .001) and less likely to drop out of the booster dose than White adolescents (aOR, 0.79; P < .001).
• Adolescents from low-income backgrounds or those whose mothers had no college education were more likely to drop out (P < .001 for both).
• Invasive meningococcal disease occurred more often in African American than in White individuals overall across all ages (P < .001) and was more than twice as common among 16- to 23-year-olds (P = .007); American Indian/Alaska Native individuals had an even higher overall incidence (P < .001).

IN PRACTICE:

“Addressing these persistent disparities should take priority over implementing changes to the vaccine schedule to prevent widening racial and ethnic gaps in protection and disease burden,” authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Chad R. Wells, PhD, of the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis at Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Connecticut. It was published online on November 11, 2025, in Journal of Adolescent Health.

LIMITATIONS:

Researchers could not examine the hesitance of parents regarding vaccines, religious beliefs, insurance coverage, or state exemption laws. The effects of pandemic were not accounted for. Only cell phones were used for the survey since 2018.

DISCLOSURES:

This study received support from Sanofi. Additional support came from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and The Notsew Orm Sands Foundation. One author reported being an employee of Sanofi. Three authors reported receiving personal fees from Sanofi Pasteur, and one reported serving in advisory roles at Janssen Canada and Sanofi.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.