Top stories for National Infant Immunization Week 2016

This week National Infant Immunization Week is being held to promote awareness for the vital role vaccinations play in protecting infants from harmful and potentially deadly diseases. Health departments, national immunization partners, physicians and other health care professionals will conduct outreach and educational activities this week, along with other events, to shine a spotlight on the nationwide impact of vaccines and to emphasize their historical success.

Developing stories highlight recent changes to the ACIP’s children’s immunization schedule, multiple safety and efficacy findings for the vaccines recommended during infancy and the success of recent state vaccine mandates. Infectious Diseases in Children highlights nine of the most informative and noteworthy recent stories in infant vaccination news.

“National Infant Immunization Week, April 16-23, will focus attention on the role of immunization in protecting infants from vaccine-preventable diseases,” CDC officials wrote in MMWR. “When National Infant Immunization Week was established approximately 20 years ago, immunization programs were facing significant challenges. The nation was in the midst of a serious measles outbreak, and communities across the United States were experiencing decreasing immunization rates among children.

“Since 1994, hundreds of communities across the country have joined together each year during National Infant Immunization Week to promote infant immunization. Although immunization coverage among children has increased, recent outbreaks of measles in the United States underscore the importance of maintaining high immunization rates in every community.”

ACIP approves updates to 2016 child, adolescent immunization schedule

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously to approve various updates to the 2016 child and adolescent immunization schedule. Updates included the addition of a “permissive recommendation” for serogroup B meningococcal vaccine, with the addition of a “blue bar” to signify its status as a category B recommendation. Read more.

Expert opinions on measles-specific vaccine exemptions vary widely

While conventional approaches to mandating vaccine compliance have focused on broadly eliminating all nonmedical vaccine exemptions for schoolchildren, a recent commentary in Pediatrics proposes that public health policy may be better served by only eliminating nonmedical exemptions for measles vaccination — a position denounced by other experts. Read more.

Mixed RotaTeq, Rotarix vaccine schedules safe, effective in children

Vaccine schedules for infants who used two different rotavirus vaccines were safe and produced immune responses comparable with single-vaccine schedules.

“Our study is the first to our knowledge to demonstrate that the two formulations of rotavirus vaccine may be administered interchangeably to infants when a shortage of one formulation occurs,” Andi L. Shane, MD, MPH, MSc, assistant professor in the department of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, told Infectious Diseases in Children. Read more.

PCV13 vaccine deemed effective in preventing pneumococcal disease

The majority of pediatric patients who received the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine showed no signs of pneumococcal disease indicated by various serotypes, according to recent study data.

“In summary, 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was found to be highly effective in preventing invasive pneumococcal disease among young children in the United States,” Matthew R. Moore, MD, from the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and colleagues wrote. Read more.

IPV safety reinforced ahead of worldwide adoption

As the worldwide replacement of live oral polio vaccine with inactivated polio vaccine unfolds, a comprehensive study has confirmed that the replacement vaccine is safe and effective.

“This analysis is the first comprehensive look at the safety profile of IPV-containing vaccines since an all-IPV schedule was introduced in the United States in 2000,” Walter A. Orenstein, MD, of the division of infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote. Read more.

Two-dose varicella vaccine more effective than one dose

The two-dose varicella vaccine was more effective than the single-dose vaccine, according to study data.

“During the first 5 years after implementation of the two-dose varicella vaccination program, we found that two doses conferred significantly better protection against varicella disease from community transmission among school-aged children compared with the one-dose regimen,” Dana Perella, MPH, surveillance coordinator at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and colleagues reported. Read more.

California vaccine compliance increased ahead of SB 277 enactment

The kindergarten vaccination rate has increased in California, ahead of the July 1, effective date of Senate Bill 277, which will eliminate all nonmedical vaccine exemptions in the state, according to recently published data. Read more.

Universal vaccine policy reduces rotavirus strains, hospitalizations in Rhode Island

Implementation of a universal pentavalent rotavirus vaccine in Rhode Island significantly reduced the number of rotavirus-associated hospitalizations and strains of rotavirus circulating in the community.

“This policy means that in 2006 to 2009, we can track exclusive use of the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine, followed by a brief period of mixed use, and then in 2010 exclusive use of the monovalent vaccine,” Sabina D. Holland, MD, from Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, told Infectious Diseases in Children. Read more.

Safety concerns common cited for hepatitis B vaccine refusal

Safety and uncertainty involving the risk for hepatitis B are reasons for barriers to vaccine uptake.

“Refusal remains a barrier to universal inoculation,” Bronwyn Baz, MD, of Oregon Health and Science, wrote. “Studying the qualities of groups refusing vaccines, including hepatitis B, may be helpful in identifying strategies for uptake improvement. We assessed uptake of the newborn hepatitis vaccine … with the goal of assessing reasons for refusal and identifying potential interventions.” Read more.