Journal Content Recommendation
01
Impact of age at vaccination and cervical HPV infection status on binding and neutralizing antibody titers at 10 years after receiving single or higher doses of quadrivalent HPV vaccine
A multi-centric study conducted in India with long-term follow-up of unmarried girls aged 10 to 18 years who received a single, two, or three-dose quadrivalent HPV vaccine had their antibody responses compared 10 years after vaccination between the younger and older age groups, examining the impact of the onset of sexual activity and cervical HPV infection on antibody levels. This study supports the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation to extend single-dose vaccination to the upper age of 20, stating that countries should consider implementing a single-dose program and expanding catch-up vaccination cohorts to age 20 years to reach a larger proportion of adolescent females (and males if resources allow) in resource-limited settings, as it will have a “more significant impact in reducing the lifetime risk of cervical cancer and accelerating elimination of the disease”.
https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2023.2289242
02
Bivalent Prefusion F Vaccine in Pregnancy to Prevent RSV Illness in Infants
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) recently counted down the heavyweight studies of 2023, including a phase III, double-blind, randomized controlled trial conducted in 18 countries. In this study, pregnant women between 24 and 36 weeks of gestation were administered 120 μg of the intramuscular bivalent RSV pre-fusion F protein (RSVpreF) vaccination and placebo. The findings demonstrated that infants born to mothers in the vaccine group had a lower incidence of RSV-associated severe lower respiratory illness at 90 and 180 days compared to infants born to mothers in the placebo group.
https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2216480
03
Safety and Immunogenicity of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Prefusion Maternal Vaccine Coadministered With Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Vaccine: A Phase 2 Study
The Journal of Infectious Diseases published a phase II, randomized, placebo-controlled, single-dose, multicenter study. The results showed that RSVPreF3 coadministered with diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (dTpa) induced “robust immune responses” and was “well tolerated, regardless of the RSVPreF3 dose level used.”
https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiad560
04
Attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of Western Australians towards vaccine safety surveillance systems following COVID-19 vaccines: A qualitative descriptive study
Australia utilizes the Vaccine Safety Surveillance Systems (VSSSs) to communicate vaccine safety data to the public. A qualitative descriptive study recently published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health shown in Western Australia revealed that although some were unaware of the VSSS system, “participants expected follow-up post COVID-19 vaccination”; respondents who expressed hesitance or outright refusal to receive a vaccination were aware of the VSSS system and held favorable opinions of it.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anzjph.2023.100108
05
Wealth-based inequity in full child vaccination coverage: An experience from Mali, Bangladesh, and South Africa. A multilevel poison regression
The study, published online in PLOS ONE, assessed inequalities in child immunization coverage based on differences in economic level in Mali, Bangladesh, and South Africa. The study found that inequalities in childhood vaccination coverage based on differences in economic level were greatest in Mali, followed by Bangladesh. “Maternal age, occupation, wealth of household, and frequency of watching television” were predictors of children completing the full course of immunization.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293522
06
Overview of vaccine regulatory development in China
In a paper published in China Food and Drug Regulation, Zhang Yanling, Executive Director of the Healthy China Research Institute and the first author of this article, systematically described the evolution of China’s vaccine regulation since the establishment of New China, categorizing the main systems currently in place for China’s vaccine regulation. The article also describes China’s performance in the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) assessment of vaccines conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), providing an overview of the current development of China’s vaccine industry and making development recommendations.
https://coaa.istic.ac.cn/openJournal/periodicalArticle/0120240101005213
Global/National Policy Updates
07
NHSA responds to whether health insurance personal accounts can pay for non-immunization program vaccinations
On December 27, the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) stated in its reply to the National People’s Congress (NPC) deputies’ suggestions that the non-immunization program vaccine costs cannot be paid by the individual accounts of employees’ health insurance and China is currently unable to expand the scope of payment of health insurance to non-therapeutic items such as non-immunization program vaccines. The response clarified that laws and regulations, such as the Social Insurance Law, have made specific provisions on the scope of payment by the basic health insurance fund, indicating that medical costs that should be covered by public health are not included in the scope of payment by the basic health insurance fund.
https://news.bjd.com.cn/2023/12/27/10660321.shtml
08
General Office of the State Council Issues “Guidelines on Promoting High-Quality Development of Disease Prevention and Control”
The General Office of the State Council issued the “Guidelines on Promoting the High-quality Development of Disease Prevention and Control”, clarifying the guiding principles and objectives of promoting the high-quality development of disease control. The document proposes that by 2030, China should improve the multi-sectoral, cross-regional, and military and local joint prevention and control mechanism; establish a disease prevention and control system that CDC and various types of specialized disease prevention and control institutions are set as the backbone, and medical institutions and primary health care facilities as the outreach network; advance the military-civilian integration, disease prevention and treatment integration, and the whole-society mobilization in the system. The guideline suggests improving a centralized, unified, and efficient system for monitoring infectious disease outbreaks, early warning, and emergency command. The guideline also places a further emphasis on enhancing public health intervention capacity, including the strengthening of vaccination.
https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/202312/content_6922483.htm
09
WHO prequalifies a second malaria vaccine, a significant milestone in the prevention of the disease
WHO announced adding the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine to its list of pre-qualified vaccines. The R21 vaccine is the second malaria vaccine to be pre-qualified by WHO, following the July 2022 pre-qualification of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine. This means more vaccine choices are available for preventing malaria in children. Additionally, pre-accreditation is required for UNICEF vaccine procurement and GAVI funding support.
Content Editor: Linjing(Grace) Zhang
Page Editor: Ziqi Liu
