UMass Amherst has scheduled a mass vaccination program after federal health officials determined two recent cases of meningitis should be considered an outbreak.
The first of four walk-in clinics will be held on the Amherst campus beginning Thursday and continuing through Tuesday Dec.5 with the goal to vaccinate as many as 20,000 undergraduate students and others who may be at risk, according to campus spokesperson Mary Dettloff.
"We've done a drill for the last couple of years on how to launch a mass vaccination clinic, so we are really relying on that playbook," said Dettloff. "This should go smoothly. We will have plenty of vaccine on hand."
Two students were diagnosed with the disease. One is still hospitalized in Boston.
Health officials determined both cases originated from a single strain of bacteria.
