Vaccine
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Given the social and economic upheavals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, political leaders, health officials, and members of the public are eager for solutions. One of the most promising, if they can be successfully developed, is vaccines. While the technological development of such countermeasures is currently underway, a key social gap remains. ⋯ To provide a starting place for this critical component of a future COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the United States, the 23-person Working Group on Readying Populations for COVID-19 Vaccines was formed. One outcome of this group is a synthesis of the major challenges and opportunities associated with a future COVID-19 vaccination campaign and empirically-informed recommendations to advance public understanding of, access to, and acceptance of vaccines that protect against SARS-CoV-2. While not inclusive of all possible steps than could or should be done to facilitate COVID-19 vaccination, the working group believes that the recommendations provided are essential for a successful vaccination program.
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Given our global interconnectedness, the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgency of building a global system that can support both routine and pandemic/epidemic adult immunization. As such, a framework to recommend vaccines and build robust platforms to deliver them to protect the rapidly expanding demographic of older adults is needed. Adult immunization as a strategy has the broad potential to preserve and improve medical, social, and economic outcomes, including maintaining functional ability that benefits older adults, their families, communities, and countries. ⋯ There was agreement that programs to deliver existing influenza, pneumococcal, herpes zoster vaccines, and future COVID-19 vaccines to over a billion older adults who are at substantially higher risk of death and disability due to vaccine-preventable diseases are more urgent than ever before. Here we present a proposed framework for delivering routine and pandemic vaccines. We call upon the global community and governments to prioritize action for integrating robust adult immunization programs into the public health agenda.
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This exploratory study estimates the economic value of the current vaccination program and increased coverage against four preventable diseases in older adults in the United States (US). ⋯ Study results highlight the economic value of vaccination programs for older adults in the US and indicate that efforts to further increase vaccination coverage may be warranted and economically justifiable.
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The AstraZeneca ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine is associated with Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) in 3/100,000 vaccinations with high fatality rates reported in many countries. We conducted a risk-benefit analysis for Australians aged 18-59 years, comparing the risk of vaccination versus infection, and rate of TTS to other vaccines which prompted policy change following rare adverse events - rotavirus, smallpox and oral polio vaccines. COVID-19 deaths over 12 months range from 0 to 417 in current and future worst case scenarios. ⋯ The estimated possible number of TTS cases is 347, with vaccine-related deaths ranging from 17 to 153if 80% of adults 18-59 years are vaccinated. The reported rate of TTS is in the same range as rare but serious adverse events associated with other vaccines that have been subject to policy change. In Australia, the potential risks of the AZD1222 vaccine in younger adults, who are at low risk of dying from COVID-19, may outweigh the benefits.