California asks to use non-approved meningitis vaccine for college outbreak

By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) – Public health officials in California said on Thursday they had sought permission from the federal government to use a vaccine not approved for use in the United States against an outbreak of meningococcal disease among students in a public university. The outbreak, which resulted in a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, having his feet amputated, is similar to one that has stricken eight students at Princeton University in New Jersey, where students began receiving the European and Australian vaccine this week.