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Maternal influenza vaccine, infant PCV increased protection against infections
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Researchers have found that the combination of maternal influenza vaccine and infant pneumococcal conjugate vaccination offers greater protection against acute otitis media infections and medically attended acute respiratory infections than the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine alone.
“Prior to widespread vaccination, Streptococcus pneumoniae was the leading cause of bacterial pneumonia, bacteremia, sinusitis, and acute otitis media in the United States,” Katharine L. van Santen, MSPH, of Kaiser Permanente, and colleagues wrote. “In the United States, young children are at the highest risk for S. pneumoniae infection.”
The retrospective cohort study included 9,807 mother-infant pairs enrolled in a managed care organization for infants born between June 1, 2002, and Dec. 31, 2009.
Researchers found that vaccine effectiveness for medically attended acute respiratory infection for the combination of maternal trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) and infant pneumococcal conjugate vaccines was 39.6% (95% CI, 31.6-46.7). However, effectiveness against medically attended acute respiratory infections with PCV only was 29.8% (95% CI, 11.4-44.3). Vaccine effectiveness against AOM using the combination was 47.9% (95% CI, 42-53.3) and 37.6% (95% CI, 23.1-49.4) for PCV only.
“Future clinical control trials and other studies should include more mother-infant pairs, in order to be adequately powers to see small differences in effectiveness estimates of combinations of maternal TIV and infant PCV, and should also include diagnostic testing of outcomes,” researchers wrote. “These studies can provide vital information in helping women make the decision to get vaccinated in order to increase vaccination rates to the Healthy People 2020 target of 80% influenza vaccination coverage in pregnant women.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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