Vaccine
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Measles elimination depends on the successful deployment of measles containing vaccine. Vaccination programs often depend on a combination of routine and non-routine services, including supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) and vaccination weeks (VWs), that both aim to vaccinate all eligible children regardless of vaccination history or natural infection. Madagascar has used a combination of these activities to improve measles coverage. However, ongoing massive measles outbreak suggests that the country was in a "honeymoon" period and that coverage achieved needs to be re-evaluated. Although healthcare access is expected to vary seasonally in low resources settings, little evidence exists to quantify temporal fluctuations in routine vaccination, and interactions with other immunization activities. ⋯ Wellcome Trust Fund, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Gates Foundation, National Institutes of Health.
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Delayed vaccination increases the susceptibility window for vaccine preventable diseases. Our analysis estimates the proportion of children between 10 and 23 months of age with delayed vaccination in India and the associated socio-demographic, maternal and child related factors. ⋯ The proportion of children with delayed vaccination is high in India. Vaccine timeliness should be a core indicator of the immunization program with greater focus on groups with higher chances of delayed vaccination i.e. home birth, low birth weight new-borns, poorer households, children of mothers with lower education and children from Muslim families.
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Influenza vaccination is recommended and funded for Australian children with medical comorbidities that increase their risk of severe influenza. Despite this, influenza vaccine coverage remains low within this population. We examined caregivers' attitudes and practices for influenza vaccination in children with medical comorbidities. ⋯ Reported influenza vaccination coverage in children with medical comorbidities remains inadequate. An important finding of this study is that influenza vaccination recommendation by children's hospital physicians and previous vaccine receipt in hospital was associated with vaccine uptake. Opportunities for vaccination, especially during hospitalisation, must be examined.
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Letter Historical Article
Ebola epidemic in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, 2018: Acceptability and patient satisfaction of the recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus - Zaire Ebolavirus Vaccine.
The current Ebola outbreak in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the second largest in history and the first in which the recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus - Zaire Ebolavirus (rVSV-ZEBOV) vaccine has been used at scale. We assessed side-effects, satisfaction, and attitudes toward the new vaccine. ⋯ The rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine was well tolerated, with high acceptability in the community during the current outbreak in the DRC.
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To increase vaccination coverage, it is essential to understand the vaccine decision-making process. High population coverage is required to obtain herd immunity and to protect vulnerable groups in terms of age (e.g. the very young) or health (e.g. immunodeficiency). Vaccine confidence and coverage in South Africa are relatively low, opening the window for sustained outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in a country facing one of the most severe HIV epidemics in the world. ⋯ As such, social normative influence could be exploited to increase vaccination confidence and coverage. With respect to vaccine-preventable burden of the disease, the marginal utilities showed disease severity to be more important than frequency of disease. Policymakers and health care workers should stress the effectiveness of vaccines together with the severity of vaccine-preventable diseases.