: Meningitis-vaccine requirement for Wisconsin students blocked by Republican lawmakers

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin state legislature has voted to prevent the administration of Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, from requiring that seventh-graders be vaccinated against meningitis and to make it easier for parents to secure exemptions from a current chicken-pox immunization mandate, the Associated Press reported. The Advisory Council on Immunization Practices, an advisory body to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has recommended since 2005 that students receive meningitis vaccines, though the brain and spinal-cord disease, which can also cause blood infections, is rare in the U.S., despite occasional outbreaks, often on college campuses and in the military. The Wisconsin vote this week saw all Democrats opposed to halting the vaccine requirement and all Republicans in favor, the AP reported.

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