Vaccines continue with new support

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Health workers vaccinated more than 330 Vigo County students at a clinic Thursday, ahead of state deadlines for the vaccines.

Before Thursday’s clinic, about 1,500 students at Terre Haute North and South High Schools, along with 338 students at McLean High School, West Vigo High School, and the county’s middle schools hadn’t gotten vaccinated.

Under a new state law, students from grade 6 and up must be vaccinated against pertussis (often known as “whooping cough”), chicken pox and meningitis.

For one graduate of Vigo County schools, the meningitis requirement has personal significance.

That’s because the disease almost took her life.

“I lost both feet, three fingers, (had) kidney failure for a while, and a lot of extensive rehabilitation,” Ashley Lee said. “It nearly killed me.”

Lee contracted meningitis during her freshman year at Indiana University in Bloomington.

She spent much of Thursday afternoon speaking to students at Honey Creek Middle School about the disease.

“I wish they (offered vaccines) back when I was in school, but I'm very excited for the kids of this generation to be able to get it,” Lee said.