Vaccines

Editor-in-chief Tina Tan, MD, FAAP, FIDSA, FPIDS, highlights the August 2024 issue of Contemporary Pediatrics.

Get caught up with our journal! Review some of the top stories from the Contemporary Pediatrics website over the last week, and catch up on anything you may have missed.

Over the winter, the omicron JN.1 lineages overtook XBB strains as dominant.

According to the report authors, girls were more likely to receive 1 or more HPV vaccine doses compared to boys (42.9% vs 34.6%).

The program allows participants to reserve doses and be eligible for priority shipping, among other benefits.

In a time when vaccine hesitancy is contributing to a rise in measles cases, an understanding of why parents are hesitant is key to help change their narrative.

The 5-in-1 vaccine candidate has the potential to reduce shots and simplify the immunization process.

The monoclonal antibody was approved by the FDA on July 17, 2023 and quickly saw high demand at the onset of the RSV season.

A study on Italian vaccination rates and factors influencing Rotavirus vaccine acceptance.

Of the 600,238 bivalent vaccine doses administered by all providers in the study period, 35,114 (5.9%) were done so by FRPP partners.

New data demonstrates protection against new variants.

An intervention applied at family care practices shows benefit to tailoring education to both clinicians and medical assistants.

Though a small number of infants received nirsevimab in the analysis, results support existing nirsevimab recommendations to prevent serious RSV disease in infants.

Nirsevimab was approved by the FDA on July 17, 2023, ahead of the traditional RSV season, though in October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended it be prioritized for the highest-risk infants amid limited availability.

Tina Tan, MD, FAAP, FIDSA, FPIDS, tells Contemporary Pediatrics, “This is not new and demonstrates what is known, in that if vaccination rates do not stay at a level that is protective, outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases will occur.”

Investigators of a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics concluded that maternal vaccination was safe with regard to neurodevelopment of the child at ages 12 months and 18 months.

Investigators of a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated efficacy against the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19 in children and adolescents, offering new, extended follow-up period data.

The estimated efficacy of the vaccine against documented infection for children and adolescents during the Omicron wave was 74.3% and 85.5%, respectively.

Todd Wolynn, MD, talks about the spread of influenza among children and their communities.

Tina Tan, MD, FAAP, FIDSA, FPIDS, discusses vaccine hesitancy and hopes to increase vaccination for preventable diseases in 2024.

A recently published study on 17 million children found combined flu and COVID-19 vaccines offered superior protection against hospitalization, MIS-C, and death during the pandemic.

Overall, the study authors concluded that the immunogenicity of QIV and TIV was similar for common influenza ingredients for children aged 6 to 35 months.

The US approval makes VLA1553 (Ixchiq; Valneva) the world’s first licensed chikungunya vaccine.

The FDA was made aware some health care providers had administered the full single dose vial of the vaccine, which contains “notably more” volume than the 0.25 mL volume indicated for children aged 6 months to 11 years.

Donna Hallas, PhD, PPCNP-BC, CPNP, PMHS, FAANP, FAAN, shares her thoughts on the Contemporary Pediatrics' October 2023 vaccine issue.

The combination vaccine candidates demonstrated a safety profile consistent with Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. A phase 3 trial is anticipated to commence in the coming months, according to a press release from Pfizer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising providers to prioritize 100 mg doses of nirsevimab, a monoclonal antibody FDA-approved to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), for infants at the highest risk of severe RSV disease.

The FDA approval could simplify meningococcal vaccine schedules while providing broad serogroup coverage.

Parents who reported the stigmatizing belief “My child is not having sex” were much more likely to rely on health care providers as a source of information than parents who did not report this belief.

At IDweek 2023, Flor Munoz, MD, MSc, provided an update on maternal Group B Streptococcus (GBS).