Immunization Schedule

The CDC’s vaccine advisory committee voted Thursday to approve the addition of COVID-19 vaccines to the recommended childhood immunization schedule.

A multi-institution epidemiological study found no evidence that the routine childhood immunization schedule is associated with the development of type 1 diabetes.

Many young children do not adhere to the early childhood immunization schedule recommended by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, study findings showed.

A set of interventions aimed at increasing provider knowledge of routine newborn immunizations and addressing parental vaccine hesitancy improved vaccination rates in one NICU from 56% to 93%, according to a quality improvement study published in Pediatrics.

Experts are developing and testing numerous vaccine candidates against norovirus, which causes hundreds of millions of infections each year worldwide and is seen as a top target for vaccine research. Infectious Disease News asked Xavier Sáez-Llorens, MD, principal investigator for Cevaxin, a vaccines and clinical research center in Panama, which norovirus vaccine or vaccine approach holds the most promise.

Drug shortages continue to inundate our health care system. They have paralyzed pharmacies and affected hundreds of thousands of patients. Although drug shortages are not new, they have significantly increased since 2007. From 2006 to 2007, there was nearly a 50% spike in shortages, and the number of shortages has remained high annually, with the highest number — 267 — reported in 2011. The cause of drug shortages is multifactorial and many times unpredictable. Manufacturing and quality issues, delays in production, raw product availability, discontinuations by manufacturers, and natural disasters are noted to be the major reasons for shortages. Drug shortages present a serious public health challenge and a strain on the health care system from a resource management perspective. Also, they contribute to an increase in overall health care costs. The FDA, professional organizations (eg, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) and pharmaceutical companies have committed to manage and prevent shortages and are working to identify key strategies and solutions to minimize harm to patients.