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Rates of adverse events similar for TIV, LAIV
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Adverse events were similar among children who received the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine compared with the live attenuated influenza vaccine, according to recent study findings published in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
Julie A. Bettinger, PhD, of the Vaccine Evaluation Center at BC Children’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia, and colleagues evaluated 1,230 parents of children who had received either the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) or the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) to determine the rate of adverse events.
Seventy-two percent of participants responded to the online survey and 11% were reached by telephone. TIV and LAIV was equally administered to children with underlying health conditions however, most healthy children received LAIV (69%).
The rate of wheezing was not significantly different among children in the study, regardless of vaccine type received (P=0.47). Ninety-nine events were reported and most commonly met the criteria for severe (n=65), followed by uncomfortable (n=27), and easily tolerable (n=5). Telephone survey participants were more likely to report severe events (6.3%) compared with 5.1% of online survey participants. Fifty-five participants who reported their child had severe events that prevented them from participating in daily activities, followed by six who were prevented from daily activities and sought medical care; four reported that they simply sought medical care without mention of activity restriction.
The amount of severe events reported did not differ among age groups.
Out of 63 reported severe events followed up by telephone, 58 were true events, yielding a 4.7% validated event rate. Those confirmed were similar for TIV (4%) and LAIV (5.1%).
Ninety-three percent of events reported were allergic events followed by respiratory symptoms/infections (84%); gastrointestinal symptoms (79%); and systemic symptoms (67%).
“Both the LAIV and TIV vaccines had a similarly good safety profile after administration to over 1,200 children,” the researchers wrote. “Notably the rate of wheezing was not different between recipients of the two vaccines. The results from this initial pilot demonstrate internet based safety surveys administered to parents with telephone follow up for severe events is highly acceptable and feasible and can successfully be used in the pediatric population to provide rapid safety data to decision makers. This methodology provides an important complement to existing Canadian surveillance to monitor the safety of seasonal influenza vaccines in children and it may work well in other countries with high internet penetration.”
Disclosure: See the study for a full list of disclosures.
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