Category: Vaccine

The World Health Organization has approved a version of a widely used cholera vaccine that could help address a surge in cases that has depleted the global vaccine stockpile and left poorer countries scrambling to contain epidemics.

WHO authorized the vaccine, made by EuBiologics, which also makes the formulation now used, last week. The new version, called Euvichol-S, is a simplified formula that uses fewer ingredients, is cheaper, and can be made more quickly than the old version.

The vaccine was shown to be help preventing the diarrheal disease in late stage research conducted in Nepal.

WHOs approval means donor agencies like the vaccines alliance Gavi and UNICEF can now buy it for poorer countries. Leila Pakkala, director of UNICEFs supply division, said in a statement that the agency will be able to boost supplies by more than 25%.

Gavi estimated there could be about 50 million doses for the global stockpile this year, compared with 38 million last year.

Dr. Derrick Sim of Gavi called WHOs authorization a lifeline for vulnerable communities around the world.

More is still needed, however: Since January, 14 countries affected by cholera outbreaks have requested 79 million doses. In January, the U.N. agency said the global vaccine stockpile was entirely depleted until the beginning of March. As of this week, WHO said there were 2.3 million doses available.

Cholera is an acute diarrhea disease caused by a bacteria typically spread via contaminated food or water. It is mostly seen in areas that have poor sanitation and lack access to clean water. While most people infected with cholera dont experience symptoms, those with severe cases need quick treatment with intravenous fluids and antibiotics. If left untreated, cholera kills about a quarter to half of people infected.

Since last January, WHO has reported more than 824,000 cholera infections, including 5,900 deaths worldwide, with the highest numbers of cases reported in the Middle East and Africa. The U.N. agency said warming temperatures that allow the cholera bacteria to live longer, have also worsened outbreaks and led to the highest death rates in a decade.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Read more from the original source:

UN approves an updated cholera vaccine that could help fight a surge in cases - The Associated Press

The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.

The program was announced shortly after COVID-19 shots first became available to the public, and provides financial compensation to people who were adversely effected by Health Canada-approved vaccines.

The Liberals earmarked $75 million for the first five years of the program. To date, a private firm called OXARO has received $56.2 million from Ottawa to run the program and pay out valid claims that originate outside of Quebec.

As of December, the firm has paid $11.2 million in compensation.

Quebec has had its own vaccine injury compensation program since 1985, and received $7.75 million when the federal program launched.

The Liberal government set aside another $36 million for OXARO and Quebec to cover the next two years of the program as part of the federal budget tabled in the House of Commons last week.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says it contracted the work to OXARO to ensure the impartiality of the claims process.

"OXARO operates independently and at arm's length from PHAC," a spokesperson for the department said in a statement.

"This means that PHAC has no involvement in program delivery, including assessment of claims or appeals of claims."

The cost of the program is dependent on how many people apply for compensation, the spokesperson said.

As of December, OXARO has received 2,233 claims and approved 138 of them.

The available statistics do not specify which vaccines were involved.

The program was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, but covers injuries and deaths associated with vaccines approved for any illness, as long as they were administered after Dec. 8, 2020.

At the time, the department underscored that a serious adverse reaction to a vaccine is extremely rare affecting less than one in a million people but that the government has a duty to help if a reaction does happen.

A little less than a year later, Ottawa made it mandatory to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel by plane or train, or to work for the federal public service.

To be eligible for compensation, the patient or their beneficiary must be able to prove they suffered a severe, life-threatening or life-altering injury that resulted in a persistent or significant disability, incapacity, a birth defect or death.

More than 105 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered since Dec. 14, 2020, and 0.01 per cent led to serious adverse effects, Health Canada data show.

Of the 488 deaths reported after people were vaccinated for COVID-19, four were directly linked to the shot, the most recent Health Canada report indicates.

Quebec saw an uptick in claims to its vaccine injury compensation program during the pandemic, from one claim in 2020 to 98 in both 2021 and 2022.

Only three of those cases had been approved for compensation as of March 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2024.

Go here to see the original:

Federal government injects another $36M into vaccine injury compensation fund - CP24

Youre reading The Checkup With Dr. Wen, a newsletter on how to navigate covid-19 and other public health challenges. Click here to get the full newsletter in your inbox, including answers to reader questions and a summary of new scientific research.

In last weeks newsletter, I asked readers who remember the days before routine childhood immunizations to share their stories from that time. Doing so, I believe, is our best chance to convince those who remain unsure about vaccines of their necessity.

Deirdre from Maryland was a pediatric nurse during the 1970s. She recalls caring for children devastated by diseases that are now vaccine-preventable. They were dependent on tube feedings and having intractable seizures, she wrote.

The dean of her nursing school was wheelchair-bound from contracting polio as a student nurse. She also remembers learning that there were special college scholarships to encourage students to major in audiology because there were so many kids who lost hearing as a lasting consequence of contagious illnesses.

The ultimate irony of the success of childhood immunizations is people under 60 have no memory of the lifelong disabilities children and adults had as a result of these diseases, she shared.

Peg from Massachusetts also urged people to consider the consequences to babies born to women who contract the diseases during pregnancy.

As a pediatric audiologist, I have seen hundreds of cases of deafness, blindness and cognitive impairment in children whose mothers contracted rubella during pregnancy, she wrote. These cases came to a near standstill after the widespread use of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Like Ina Pinkney, whom I had the honor of profiling in my column last week, Susan from Arizona is a polio survivor. She contracted the virus in 1946, nine years before the first polio vaccine was made available.

She recalls that there were children in hospital wards who eventually stopped crying after repeated pleas to see their parents could not be met. Parents climbed on ladders outside hospitals to try to get a glimpse of their children.

She herself was an iron lung baby; like many others, her respiratory muscles were paralyzed and she depended on a machine to breathe. In her 20s, she developed post-polio syndrome. In total, she has had five surgeries for nerve impingement. Part of her hip was transplanted on her ankle. Pain and fatigue have always been a part of my life, she told me.

Now retired from her career as a nurse-educator, Susan describes her mother as being shamed, blamed and marginalized because of her daughters illness. On the day her mother died, she learned that her mother was haunted by the guilt that she was the one who gave her daughter polio.

Although we shared the lifetime emotional pain of polio, we did not talk directly about this until the evening of her death, Susan wrote to me. Talking openly would have been too painful.

Ruth from Virginia also shared a moving story about a family member her little sister, Beth, who was barely a year and a half old when she contracted measles in 1949. Ruth believes her sister was exposed to the virus at a doctors office.

One night when my brother and I were asleep, our parents brought her to the hospital, she wrote. Either that night or the next, she died.

Ruth recalls being in her parents bed the next morning crying with her younger brother. I have carried that grief around me ever since, she wrote. I am now 84 years old.

It is jarring every time she hears anti-vaccine comments. These individuals, she believes, are ignoring the impacts on the family when a child dies. To go through this grief before vaccines were available was a terrible tragedy. It is many times worse now that we have the tools to avert such suffering and death.

Follow this link:

Opinion | The Checkup With Dr. Wen: Readers recall the suffering of vaccine-preventable diseases - The Washington Post

The Agriculture Department said its research agency has begun to assess the potential to develop an effective vaccine against the H5N1 bird flu virus in cattle, although it warned that it is too early to say how long the process would take. The virus has so far infected 29 dairy herds in eight states, though there have been no detections in commercial beef herds since the disease was identified in cattle in late March.

In an updated fact sheet, theAnimal and Plant Health Inspection Service(APHIS) said that while wild migratory birds are believed to be the original source of the virus, it has been passed from cow to cow in some instances. Additionally, we have similar evidence that the virus also spread from dairy cattle premises back into nearby poultry facilities through an unknown route.

Authorities say bird flu poses a low risk to human health, although it has only recently been found in U.S. cattle. A Texas dairy worker was treated for mild symptoms of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says genetic sequencing of samples from dairy cows and the farmworker showed the H5N1 virus for the most part lack changes that would make them better adapted to infect mammals.

The U.S. poultry industry is contending with persistent outbreaks of HPAI that began in early February 2022. To date, 90.7 million birds in domestic flocks, mostly egg-laying hens and turkeys being raised for human consumption, have been culled in attempts to stamp out bird flu. There have been four major outbreaks in April, affecting 8.4 million laying hens.

Were dealing with wild birds. Its not an easy thing, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the North American Agricultural Journalists early this week. Bad weather may cause migrating birds to pause anywhere along their routes. When they spend more time, theres the opportunity obviously for virus that always has been present to be spread in the area.

The Agricultural Research Service has begun to assess the potential to develop an effective vaccine for H5N1 in bovine, said APHIS in its backgrounder. It is difficult to predict how long development might take, as many outstanding questions remain about the transmission to cattle, characterizations of the infection, etc.

Vaccine manufacturers have expressed interest in developing vaccines for H5N1 in poultry and cattle, said APHIS. We will continue to engage with those developers to better understand their vaccine development, the efficacy of potential vaccines, as well as the cost of development and production.

CDIRAP, theCenter for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, at the University of Minnesota, was the first to report USDA interest in an H5N1 cattle vaccine.

The USDA said spread of the bird flu virus within and among herds indicates that bovine-to-bovine spread occurs, likely through mechanical means. Themedical news site STATsaid transmission was potentially through sequential use of milking equipment. The USDA told STAT on Thursday that it can establish links between affected herds in Texas, New Mexico, and Kansas, but it does not currently have evidence to suggest all affected herds in all impacted states received cows from Texas.

For some time, the USDA has explored an HPAI vaccine for poultry. However, using a vaccine would imperil egg and poultry meat exports because it is currently impossible to identify products from infected animals. Vaccinating flocks would be time consuming and expensive, since there are tens of millions of chickens and turkeys. By contrast, there were8.9 million dairy cowsat latest count.

While HPAI is often lethal to poultry, its symptoms in dairy cattle are much milder: a loss of appetite, a sharp reduction in milk output, lethargy, dehydration, and fever, most often in older cows. Little or no mortality has been reported, and the animals are reportedly recovering, said APHIS. The USDA advises farmers to test their dairy stock for the H5N1 virus before transporting them.

HPAI can be spread directly through the droppings of wild birds, through a contaminated water source, or indirectly by clothing, footwear, and equipment that has been exposed to the virus.

Read more:

USDA assesses vaccine to protect cattle from bird flu virus - Successful Farming

OTTAWA - The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.

The program was announced shortly after COVID-19 shots first became available to the public, and provides financial compensation to people who were adversely affected by Health Canada-approved vaccines.

The Liberals earmarked $75 million for the first five years of the program. To date, a private firm called OXARO has received $56.2 million from Ottawa to run the program and pay out valid claims that originate outside of Quebec.

As of December, the firm has paid $11.2 million in compensation.

Quebec has had its own vaccine injury compensation program since 1985, and received $7.75 million when the federal program launched.

The Liberal government set aside another $36 million for OXARO and Quebec to cover the next two years of the program as part of the federal budget tabled in the House of Commons last week.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says it contracted the work to OXARO to ensure the impartiality of the claims process.

"OXARO operates independently and at arm's length from PHAC," a spokesperson for the department said in a statement.

"This means that PHAC has no involvement in program delivery, including assessment of claims or appeals of claims."

The cost of the program is dependent on how many people apply for compensation, the spokesperson said.

As of December, OXARO has received 2,233 claims and approved 138 of them.

The available statistics do not specify which vaccines were involved.

The program was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, but covers injuries and deaths associated with vaccines approved for any illness, as long as they were administered after Dec. 8, 2020.

At the time, the department underscored that a serious adverse reaction to a vaccine is extremely rare affecting less than one in a million people but that the government has a duty to help if a reaction does happen.

A little less than a year later, Ottawa made it mandatory to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel by plane or train, or to work for the federal public service.

To be eligible for compensation, the patient or their beneficiary must be able to prove they suffered a severe, life-threatening or life-altering injury that resulted in a persistent or significant disability, incapacity, a birth defect or death.

More than 105 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered since Dec. 14, 2020, and 0.01 per cent led to serious adverse effects, Health Canada data show.

Of the 488 deaths reported after people were vaccinated for COVID-19, four were directly linked to the shot, the most recent Health Canada report indicates.

Quebec saw an uptick in claims to its vaccine injury compensation program during the pandemic, from one claim in 2020 to 98 in both 2021 and 2022.

Only three of those cases had been approved for compensation as of March 2023.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

See the article here:

Ottawa injects another $36M into vaccine injury compensation fund - Toronto Star

WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. World Health Organization. https://covid19.who.int (2023).

Watson, O. J. et al. Global impact of the first year of COVID-19 vaccination: A mathematical modelling study. Lancet. Infect. Dis 22(9), 12931302 (2022).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Mesl, M. M. I. et al. Estimated number of deaths directly averted in people 60 years and older as a result of COVID-19 vaccination in the WHO European Region, December 2020 to November 2021. Eurosurveillance 26(47), 2101021 (2021).

Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by manufacturer, European Union. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-vaccine-doses-by-manufacturer (2023).

Feikin, D. R. et al. Duration of effectiveness of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease: Results of a systematic review and meta-regression. The Lancet 399(10328), 924944. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(22)00152-0 (2022).

Article CAS Google Scholar

Milne, G. et al. Does infection with or vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 lead to lasting immunity?. Lancet Respir. Med. 9(12), 14501466. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00407-0 (2021).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Matveev, V. A. et al. Immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines and their effect on HIV reservoir in older people with HIV. iScience 26(10), 107915. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ISCI.2023.107915 (2023).

Article ADS CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Korosec, C. S. et al. Long-term durability of immune responses to the BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines based on dosage, age and sex. Sci. Rep. 12(1), 21232. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-25134-0 (2022).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Srivastava, K. et al. SARS-CoV-2-infection- and vaccine-induced antibody responses are long lasting with an initial waning phase followed by a stabilization phase. Immunity 57(3), 587-599.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2024.01.017 (2024).

Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar

Saad-Roy, C. M. et al. Epidemiological and evolutionary considerations of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine dosing regimes. Science 372(6540), 363370. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg8663 (2021).

Article ADS CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Slifka, M. K. & Amanna, I. How advances in immunology provide insight into improving vaccine efficacy. Vaccine 32(25), 29482957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.03.078 (2014).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Widge, A. T. & Rouphael, N. Durability of Responses after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 Vaccination. N. Engl. J. Med. 384(1), 710 (2021).

Article Google Scholar

Dan, J. M. et al. Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 assessed for up to 8 months after infection. Science 371(6529), 4063. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf4063 (2021).

Article CAS Google Scholar

Keshavarz, B. et al. Trajectory of IgG to SARS-CoV-2 after vaccination with BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 in an employee cohort and comparison with natural infection. Front. Immunol. 13(March), 19. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.850987 (2022).

Article CAS Google Scholar

Townsend, J. P., Hassler, H. B., Sah, P., Galvani, A. P. & Dornburg, A. The durability of natural infection and vaccine-induced immunity against future infection by SARS-CoV-2. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 119(31), 18. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2204336119 (2022).

Article CAS Google Scholar

Goel, R. R. et al. Distinct antibody and memory B cell responses in SARS-CoV-2 nave and recovered individuals following mRNA vaccination. Sci. Immunol. 6(58), 120. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciimmunol.abi6950 (2021).

Article Google Scholar

Stankov, M. V. et al. Humoral and cellular immune responses against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants and human coronaviruses after single BNT162b2 vaccination. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2021, 19. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab555 (2021).

Article CAS Google Scholar

Bergamaschi, C. et al. Systemic IL-15, IFN-(gamma), and IP-10/CXCL10 signature associated with effective immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine recipients. Cell Rep. 36(6), 109504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109504 (2021).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Camara, C. et al. Differential effects of the second SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine dose on T cell immunity in nave and COVID-19 recovered individuals. BioRxiv 2021, 436441. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.22.436441 (2021).

Article CAS Google Scholar

Suthar, M. S. et al. Durability of immune responses to the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine. Medicine 3(1), 2527. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medj.2021.12.005 (2022).

Article MathSciNet CAS Google Scholar

Mateus, J. et al. Low-dose mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine generates durable memory enhanced by cross-reactive T cells. Science 374(6566), eabj9853. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj9853 (2021).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Cohen, K. W. et al. Longitudinal analysis shows durable and broad immune memory after SARS-CoV-2 infection with persisting antibody responses and memory B and T cells. Cell Rep. Med. 2(7), 100354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2021.100354 (2021).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Mwimanzi, F. et al. Older adults mount less durable humoral responses to two doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine but strong initial responses to a third dose. J. Infect. Dis. 226(6), 983994. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiac199 (2022).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Brockman, M. A. et al. Reduced magnitude and durability of humoral immune responses to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines among older adults. J. Infect. Dis. 225(7), 11291140. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab592 (2022).

Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar

Mwimanzi, F. et al. Impact of age and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 breakthrough infection on humoral immune responses after three doses of coronavirus disease 2019 mRNA vaccine. Open Forum Infect. Dis. 10(3), 111. https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofad073 (2023).

Article CAS Google Scholar

Gholami, S. et al. A mathematical model of protein subunits COVID-19 vaccines. Math. Biosci. 358, 108970. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MBS.2023.108970 (2023).

Article MathSciNet CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Farhang-sardroodi, S. et al. Analysis of host immunological response of adenovirus-based COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines 9(8), 861 (2021).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Moyles, I. R., Korosec, C. S. & Heffernan, J. M. Determination of significant immunological timescales from mRNA-LNP-based vaccines in humans. J. Math. Biol. 86(86), 141. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00285-023-01919-3 (2023).

Article MathSciNet Google Scholar

Prez-Als, L. et al. Modeling of waning immunity after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and influencing factors. Nat. Commun. 13(1), 111. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29225-4 (2022).

Article CAS Google Scholar

Lin, J. et al. Longitudinal assessment of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell cytokine-producing responses for 1 year reveals persistence of multicytokine proliferative responses, with greater immunity associated with disease severity. J. Virol. 96(13), e00509-22. https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.00509-22 (2022).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Korosec, C. S. et al. Multiple cohort study of hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 in-host infection dynamics: Parameter estimates, identifiability, sensitivity and the eclipse phase profile. J. Theor. Biol. 564, 111449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2023.111449 (2023).

Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Korosec, C. S., Wahl, L. M. & Heffernan, J. M. Within-host evolution of SARS-CoV-2: How often are de novo mutations transmitted from symptomatic infections?. Virus Evolution 10(1), veae006. https://doi.org/10.1093/ve/veae00 (2024).

Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Antony. Monolix version 2016R1. http://lixoft.com/products/monolix2016/ (France, Lixoft SAS, 2016).

McKight, P. E. & Najab, J. Kruskal-wallis test. Corsini Encycl. Psychol. 2010, 1 (2010).

Google Scholar

Yoav, B. & Hochberg, Y. Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple hypothesis testing. J. R. Stat. Soc. B 57(1), 289300 (1995).

Google Scholar

Friedman, J., Hastie, T., & Tibshirani, R. et al. glmnet: Lasso and Elastic-Net Regularized Generalized Linear Models. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=glmnet. R package version 4.1-8 (2023).

Friedman, J., Hastie, T. & Tibshirani, R. Regularization paths for generalized linear models via coordinate descent. J. Stat. Softw. 33(1), 1 (2010).

Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Simon, N., Friedman, J., Hastie, T. & Tibshirani, R. Regularization paths for coxs proportional hazards model via coordinate descent. J. Stat. Softw. 39(5), 1 (2011).

Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Tibshirani, R. et al. Strong rules for discarding predictors in lasso-type problems. J. R. Stat. Soc.: Ser. B (Stat. Methodol.) 74(2), 245266 (2012).

Article MathSciNet Google Scholar

Rudberg, A.-S. et al. SARS-CoV-2 exposure, symptoms and seroprevalence in healthcare workers in Sweden. Nat. Commun. 11(1), 5064. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18848-0 (2020).

Article ADS CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

OBrien, R. M. A caution regarding rules of thumb for variance inflation factors. Qual. Quant. 41(5), 673690. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-006-9018-6 (2007).

Article Google Scholar

Zuur, A. F., Ieno, E. N. & Elphick, C. S. A protocol for data exploration to avoid common statistical problems. Methods Ecol. Evol. 1(1), 314. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2009.00001.x (2010).

Article Google Scholar

Liang, X. M. et al. A third dose of an inactivated vaccine dramatically increased the levels and decay times of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, but disappointingly declined again: A prospective, longitudinal, cohort study at 18 serial time points over 368 days. Front. Immunol. 13(April), 19. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.876037 (2022).

Article ADS CAS Google Scholar

Robinson, M. J. et al. Long-lived plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow at a constant rate from early in an immune response. Science immunology 7(76), eabm8389. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciimmunol.abm8389 (2022).

Article PubMed Google Scholar

Castruita, J. A. S. et al. SARS-CoV-2 spike mRNA vaccine sequences circulate in blood up to 28 days after COVID-19 vaccination. APMIS 131(3), 128132. https://doi.org/10.1111/apm.13294 (2023).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Golan, Y. et al. Evaluation of messenger RNA from COVID-19 BTN162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines in human milk. JAMA Pediatr. 175(10), 10691071. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.1929 (2021).

Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Fertig, T. E. et al. Vaccine mRNA can be detected in blood at 15 days post-vaccination. Biomedicines. 10(7), 1538 (2022).

Aldridge, R. W. et al. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and breakthrough infections in the Virus Watch cohort. Nat. Commun. 13, 4869. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32265-5 (2022).

Article ADS CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Trevisan, C. et al. Sex differences in the efficacy and safety of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in residents of long-term care facilities: Insights from the GeroCovid Vax study. Internal Emerg. Med. 2023, 111 (2023).

Google Scholar

Zhang, F. et al. Adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection in severe versus mild individuals. Signal Transd. Target. Therapy 5, 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-020-00263-y (2020).

Article CAS Google Scholar

Park, M. D. Sex differences in immune responses in COVID-19. Nat. Rev. Immunol. 20(8), 461 (2020).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Gaeta, A. et al. Anti-N SARS-CoV-2 assays for evaluation of natural viral infection. J. Immunol. Methods 518, 113486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jim.2023.113486 (2023).

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Fischinger, S., Boudreau, C. M., Butler, A. L., Streeck, H. & Alter, G. Sex differences in vaccine-induced humoral immunity. Semin. Immunopathol. 41(2), 239249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00281-018-0726-5 (2019).

Read the original:

SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccine dose significantly extends humoral immune response half-life beyond the primary series ... - Nature.com

Malaria incidents are on the rise. There were 249 million cases of this parasitic disease in 2022, five million more than in 2021. Africa suffers more than any other region from malaria, with 94% of cases and 95% of deaths worldwide.

This year two revolutionary malaria vaccines are being rolled out across the continent. Nadine Dreyer asks Jaishree Raman if 2024 will be the year the continent takes a significant leap towards beating the disease.

The RTS,S vaccine was the first to target a parasite. It was developed by the Walter Reed Army Research Institute after 30 years of intense research and approved by the World Health Organization in 2021.

What is special about it?

The long-awaited vaccine was described as a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control. It is being aimed at children under the age of 5, who make up about 80% of all malaria deaths in Africa.

A multi-country trial involving Ghana, Malawi and Kenya confirmed the safety of the vaccine, with limited side effects, a high level of acceptability among the affected communities, and the feasibility of a four-dose vaccine regime within a rural African healthcare setting.

Among children aged 5 and 17 months who received 4 doses of RTS,S, the vaccine prevented about 30% of them from developing severe malaria.

Although a 30% prevention rate might seem low, a recent study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases in August 2023 showed that giving young children RTS,S alongside other antimalarial prevention treatments before the rainy season reduced malaria by nearly two-thirds.

How far along is the rollout?

Since 2019 more than 2 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have been vaccinated with the RTS,S malaria vaccine.

The worlds first routine vaccine programme using the RTS,S started in Cameroon in January 2024. The country is offering the vaccine free of charge to all infants up to the age of six months. This has been described as a transformative chapter in Africas public health history.

About 18 million doses of the vaccine were allocated to 12 African countries. They are Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

What are the holdups?

Since the WHO approved and prequalified the vaccine, demand has been unprecedented. The manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, is unable to produce enough doses.

The vaccine and AS01 adjuvant, a chemical compound used to boost immune responses, have complex synthesis processes. This is whats limiting the projected vaccine production for the next two years to 18 million doses.

This is significantly lower than the estimated 60 million doses already pre-ordered by numerous countries were malaria is endemic.

After decades of vaccine research, a second malaria vaccine was approved just two years after the RTS,S vaccine. The R21/Matrix is a second-generation RTS,S vaccine. It was developed by Oxford Universitys Jenner Institute and approved by the WHO in October 2023.

Whats special about it?

The R21 vaccine is a significant improvement on the RTS,S vaccine, with 75% efficacy over a year.

The production process is much less complicated, which means it can be manufactured in vast amounts. The worlds largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, has already established production capacity for 100 million doses per annum. This is great news for 40 million children born every year in malaria areas in Africa.

The R21/Matrix M vaccine is very cost-effective, projected to retail at $2-$4 a dose, comparable in price to other childhood vaccines used in Africa.

How advanced is the rollout of the R21 vaccine?

Data from a clinical trial in 2020 involving 450 children aged between 5 and 36 months from Burkina Faso confirmed vaccine safety and protection against severe disease, with an efficacy of 77% after 12 months.

These very encouraging findings prompted several malaria-endemic African countries, including Ghana and Nigeria, to approve use of the R21/Matrix M vaccine well before the World Health Organization.

Oxford University took the proactive step of signing a manufacturing agreement with the Serum Institute of India even though WHO approval and prequalification had not been granted.

This forward-thinking approach has ensured that the first batches of the R21 vaccine will be available in the second half of this year.

The Serum Institute has committed to producing twice as many doses in 2025, alleviating some of the demand for the RTS,S vaccine, and ensuring vulnerable young African children in high burden areas receive protection against malaria.

What are the holdups?

Without WHO approval and prequalification, several international organisations, including Unicef and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, were unable to fund the procurement or production of the vaccine.

The WHO finally approved and prequalified R21/Matrix M for use in the last quarter of 2023.

This vaccine is due to be rolled out in several African countries from May 2024.

While the fight against malaria has been significantly bolstered by the availability of these vaccines, they are not the silver bullets that are going to get us to an Africa free of malaria.

They are, nonetheless, a welcome addition to the malaria elimination toolbox and ideally should be used together with other control strategies like long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets, rapid diagnosis, and treatment with an effective antimalarial.

This will be the year that many vulnerable young African children will have access to not one, but two malaria vaccines.

Go here to read the rest:

Two new malaria vaccines are being rolled out across Africa: how they work and what they promise - The Conversation

Mwanza/Geneva, 22 April 2024 The Ministry of Health of the United Republic of Tanzania, in partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), today launched the national multi-age cohort (MAC) vaccination campaign against the human papillomavirus (HPV) the leading cause of cervical cancer. The campaign, which is targeting over 5 million girls aged 914 years, will run from Monday, 22 April, to Friday, 26 April 2024.

While cervical cancer remains a significant cause of death among women in Tanzania, with more than 10,800 cases and 6,800 deaths in 2022 alone, it is vaccine preventable. The HPV vaccine is safe and highly effective in preventing infections. During the campaign, eligible girls will have the opportunity to receive a single dose of the HPV vaccine at no cost.

Efforts to increase access to the HPV vaccine across Tanzania have made substantial progress. In 2018, the two-dose vaccine was integrated into the national routine immunization programme for 14-year-old girls, demonstrating the government's commitment to safeguarding the health and well-being of future generations.

To date, coverage of the first dose of the HPV vaccine has reached 79%, and the second dose is at 60%. Combined efforts are needed to ensure every girl in Tanzania receives crucial protection against this deadly yet preventable disease. Following the MAC campaign, the vaccine will continue to be provided routinely as a single dose to nine-year-old girls. It will go a long way towards increasing girls protection.

Tanzanias progress in administering the HPV vaccine is a critical part of a broader global initiative supported by the Vaccine Alliance, which has committed additional funding and resources towards reaching 86 million girls worldwide with the HPV vaccine by 2025.

The campaign will leverage African Vaccination Week, synchronized with World Immunization Week (24 to 30 April), during which routine childhood vaccinations along with health education will be provided for girls in schools, health facilities and community centres countrywide.

Throughout this week, the Ministry of Health, Gavi, UNICEF and WHO are urging communities to encourage girls to get vaccinated against cervical cancer and to aim for a future where no girl is burdened by this disease.

Go here to read the rest:

Over 5 million girls in Tanzania to receive HPV vaccine to combat cervical cancer - Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Proof of routine childhood vaccinations would no longer be required before kids are enrolled in child care, under a bill being considered by New Hampshire lawmakers.

The bill, which passed the New Hampshire House last month, is one of several attempts lawmakers have made to roll back public health measures in recent years.

New Hampshire currently requires kids to be immunized against certain diseases before they can be enrolled in child care. Depending on their age, that includes polio, measles, chickenpox and hepatitis B. (The COVID-19 vaccine is not required, and exceptions are made for religious or medical reasons.)

During a Senate hearing Wednesday, health officials warned against lifting vaccination requirements for child care enrollment, saying that could lead to fewer kids getting routine childhood immunizations and contribute to outbreaks of preventable diseases.

Infectious diseases that were once eliminated from the U.S., such as measles and polio, are now making a comeback because of under-immunization, said Dr. Benjamin Chan, the state epidemiologist.

He pointed out that measles was eliminated from the United States in 2000. But this year, there have been over 120 cases nationwide.

None of those cases were in New Hampshire. But Chan said the state has seen a concerning drop in the number of children getting the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine.

In the 2022-23 school year, 89.4% of New Hampshire kindergartners had the MMR vaccine the lowest rate in New England and below the national average.

Because measles is so contagious, at least 95% of a population needs to be vaccinated to create herd immunity and prevent outbreaks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As vaccination levels decrease, this is putting our children and our communities and our child care agencies at risk, Chan said.

The current state law says no child can be admitted or enrolled in any school or child care agency without documentation theyve had the required vaccinations or qualify for an exemption. The bill would remove child care agencies from that requirement, as well as a requirement that they keep immunization records for every child.

Republican Rep. Ross Berry of Manchester, one of the sponsors, said the bill is about eliminating a needless paperwork requirement that he called burdensome for child care providers. Berry, who runs a child care center, disputed the idea that the bill removes the vaccination requirement itself, as opposed to just the reporting requirements.

But Chan and other officials with the Department of Health and Human Services disagreed. They said that, in their reading, the bill actually does get rid of vaccination requirements for child care enrollment and even if it didnt, they argued those requirements would be meaningless without any way of ensuring compliance.

Health officials said lifting vaccination requirements could also put federal funding for child care at risk.

The bill is currently in the New Hampshire Senates Health and Human Services Committee.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, New Hampshire lawmakers have proposed various measures to limit public health powers at the state or local level.

On Wednesday, state senators also heard testimony on a bill that would prohibit school districts from imposing mask mandates, which has also passed the House. Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a similar bill in 2022, citing the importance of local control.

See the original post:

NH public health officials warn against changing child care vaccination rules - New Hampshire Public Radio

Toronto

Share on Facebook Share on X Share by Email

Posted: April 23, 2024 Last Updated: April 23, 2024

Peel Region has a massive childhood vaccination backlog, with more than half of children missing at least one mandated vaccine dose.

That's the warning fromPeel's acting medical officer of health, who says the lack of school immunizations is spelling trouble for communicable diseases.

"Without significant dedicated resources, we estimate it will take seven years to complete screening catch up and achieve pre-pandemic coverage rates," said Dr. Katherine Binghamina presentation to Peel council on April 11.

She says low immunization coverage among students significantly increases the risk for the re-emergence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles.

Unless children have a valid exception, the following vaccines are mandatory for Ontario school children: diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningitis, whooping cough and chicken pox. Several other vaccines are strongly recommended by public health units and doctors.

Advocates, doctors and Peel public health are advocating for more attention to the issue, more money from the province for public health and the formation of an action plan to quickly address the currently low vaccination rates.

Peel stacks lower than the provincial average on a number of vaccinations.For example, just over 37 per cent of seven-year-olds had been vaccinated against measles compared to more than 52 per cent province-wideas ofAugust 31, 2022.

Peel Public Health says many children missed vaccinations they would have received at school or a doctor's offices. Reporting of vaccines and enforcement also fell behind in the pandemic. To tackle the backlog more quickly, Peel Public Health opened public clinics for mandatory vaccines as of April 1 of this year.

Jill Promoli, a Mississauga mother,lost her son, Jude, to a school flu outbreak eight years ago even though he was vaccinated. She's now an illness prevention advocate championing immunizations and said the low vaccination rates in Peel children are "very concerning."

"We never thought it would be us, but it is going to be someone," said Promoli, who's alsoa Peel District School Board Trustee, but did not speak to CBCTorontoin that capacity.

"The reason that we do vaccinate against these diseases is not because they're inconvenient or uncomfortable, but it's because people do die from them," she said.

Promolisays she's also concerned about children who are vaccinated being exposed, given vaccines do not provide complete immunity.

Pediatric and infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anna Banerji, called the proportion of Peel students missing a mandated dose "very high."

"It needs to be addressed," she said.

She says part of the problem in the region is access, including to family doctors, but the region also has a diverse population, which can mean additional challenges.

"I think that language and cultural support and trying to get these kids vaccinated will be very important," she said.

Banerji also pointed to vaccine hesitancy being higher for some coming out of the pandemic.

She says seven years is far too long to have school-aged children not protected against such concerning diseases.

The public health unit says they have less money than several nearby health units to try and tackle the issue, receiving one of the lowest provincial per capita funding rates in the province.

For cost-shared programs, in Peel, public health was funded by the province at approximately $34 per capita in 2022, while Toronto and Hamilton each received $49 per capita, according to the health authority's report.

Caledon Mayor Annette Groves says the funding needs to change now to address problems that will continue to climb for Peel Public Health.

"Peel is a growing region and there will be greater need for funding as our resident population increases," she saidin a statement.

Asked why Peel Public Health gets fewer dollars per capita,Ministry of Health spokesperson Hannah Jensen didn't disputeToronto and Hamilton received more funding per capita.

"Since 2018, our government has increased our investment into Peel Public Health by nearly 20 per cent," she said in a statement.

Jensen said that'sin addition to the $100 million the provincial government invested into public health units across the province to provide support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government has restored a funding model where the province pays 75 percent of cost sharing for public health units and municipalities including Peel pay 25 percent, she said, noting the provincehad been paying 70per cent for sometime, so this represented an increase.

The province also increased base funding by oneper cent per year, over the next three years, starting this year for public health units and municipalities including Peel, she added.

Asked why Peel would still receivea lower per capita rate that some of its neighbours,the province did not respond directly.

She says the government is working closely with its partners to get children caught up on vaccines.

Promoli says the per capita discrepancy in funding between regions is "shocking"and diverse populations need more, not less.

"It's always important to try to meet people where they are," she said. "To hear those questions, to hear the reasons why people are hesitant or even refusing and to try to understandand then find the best ways to help people make decisions that will best protect their families."

Peel Public Health says it plans to return to council soon with more details about the challenges and its plans to address them.

Clara Pasieka is a CBC journalist in Toronto. She has also worked in CBC's national bureau and as a reporter in the Northwest Territories, Ontario and New Brunswick. Her investigative work following the Nova Scotia Mass Shooting was a finalist for a CAJ Award. She holds a Masters degree in Public Policy, Law and Public Administration from York University.

The rest is here:

Peel Region has major childhood vaccination backlog - CBC.ca