A requirement for incoming students to receive meningitis and hepatitis B vaccines could become mandatory for all of Florida's public universities. UF already has a similar requirement in place.
Florida's Board of Governors, the State University System's highest governing body, will vote on requiring the vaccinations at its meeting next week.
Bill Edmonds, spokesman for the board, said if passed, the vaccines would be required starting July 1.
At other state universities, only students living in campus housing must receive vaccines.
Meningitis is commonly contracted when living in heavily populated places, like dorms.
Philip Barkley, director of the UF Student Health Care Center, said UF has had its mandatory vaccination policy for about two years.
Barkley said UF has not had any recent meningitis cases on campus.
The new policy would require incoming students at every public university in Florida to be vaccinated or sign a waiver saying they refuse to have the shots, regardless of where they plan to live.
Edmonds said the board originally considered requiring all students to receive the meningitis vaccine after a University of South Florida student died of the disease in the fall.
The early signs of meningitis resemble flu symptoms, so by the time a person realizes they have a serious disease, it might be too late, Edmonds said.
Although students living in dorms are already required to be vaccinated, Edmonds said the board thought all incoming students should be protected because college students face the risk of meningitis off campus, too.
"Whether you live in the dorm or not in the dorm, you probably have roommates," he said.
"You're probably in close contact with others. You're probably in the kind of behavior that makes you vulnerable."
He said sharing drinks and cigarettes and any other close contact are at-risk behaviors for contracting the disease.
Justin Harlacher, a UF freshman, said he chose to receive the vaccine because he knew how powerful meningitis was, and he realized the risks posed by a college environment.
"It doesn't matter if you live in the dorms or not," Harlacher said. "You're always around students."
