# Does a 31-year old adult need a meningitis vaccination? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2019, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-31-year-old-adult-need-a-meningitis-vaccination/832923 "2019-04-23T06:56:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-31-year-old-adult-need-a-meningitis-vaccination/832923/1 "2019-04-23T06:56:27Z")
I see it’s recommended for teens, and also adults over 50, but apparently no mention of the age gap in between? Also, vaccines can only prevent virus-related stuff, not bacterial? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-31-year-old-adult-need-a-meningitis-vaccination/832923/2 "2019-04-23T08:11:16Z")
if I remember correctly they last 20-30 years or so that middle period would be covered ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-31-year-old-adult-need-a-meningitis-vaccination/832923/3 "2019-04-23T10:20:16Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Also, vaccines can only prevent virus-related stuff, not bacterial? I don’t think this is true. There are vaccines that protect against typhoid fever, which is a bacterial infection. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-31-year-old-adult-need-a-meningitis-vaccination/832923/4 "2019-04-23T10:59:17Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > if I remember correctly they last 20-30 years or so that middle period would be covered Not really. They only began recommending meningitis vaccines for all teens in 2005, so there are millions of us under the age of 50 who have never been vaccinated against it. However, most of us aren’t sharing living quarters with lots and lots of other students or members of the military, so our risk of exposure is a lot lower than the typical teen or early twenty-something. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-31-year-old-adult-need-a-meningitis-vaccination/832923/5 "2019-04-23T12:08:01Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Also, vaccines can only prevent virus-related stuff, not bacterial? Although vaccines against viral diseases such as polio and mumps were developed earlier and used far more broadly than anti-bacterial vaccines, the latter do exist. For example, effective vaccines exist against Streptococcus pneumonia (the most common cause of pneumonia), Haemophilus influenzae (protecting against both meningitis and a devastating epiglottitis), Neisseria meningitidis (which causes a form of meningitis that is, at once, potentially catastrophic and highly contagious). Remember also that the vaccine can be against the toxin produced by the bacteria and not the bacteria itself, e.g. tetanus, diphtheria. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-31-year-old-adult-need-a-meningitis-vaccination/832923/6 "2019-04-23T12:27:16Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I don’t think this is true. There are vaccines that protect against typhoid fever, which is a bacterial infection. Although the term “vaccine” is commonly used as a general term for all antigen preparations for infectious disease prevention, a pendant might point out that a biological used to prevent a bacterial infection/disease is actually a bacterin. [Cite](https://m.chemicalbook.com/ProductCatalog_EN/1434.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-31-year-old-adult-need-a-meningitis-vaccination/832923/7 "2019-04-23T14:00:34Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I don’t think this is true. There are vaccines that protect against typhoid fever, which is a bacterial infection. Also tetanus and diptheria.