Immunization

Globally, reported cases of neonatal tetanus decreased by 90% from 2000 to 2018 and neonatal deaths from the bacterial infection fell 85%, according to a report published recently in MMWR, which summarized progress toward eliminating maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT).

According to the data from the CDC, 70% of children in the United States aged 19 to 35 months receive the combined seven-vaccine series in 2017. In the past 12 months in the U.S., 50% of children aged 6 months to 17 years, 34% of adults aged 18 to 49 years, 47% of adults aged 50 to 64 years and 69% of adults aged 65 years or older received an influenza vaccination.

Amid a growing COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, or GPEI, recommended that polio vaccination campaigns be postponed until the second half of the year and that countries responding to outbreaks of polio suspend those efforts until June 1, and then re-evaluate the situation.

Patients with inflammatory rheumatic disease receiving conventional DMARDs and a prime-boost vaccination strategy — a dose of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and a dose of 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine — saw improved immunogenicity, compared with single pneumococcal conjugate vaccination, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

A healthy, 3-year-old female was running in her backyard without shoes and impaled her left foot on a nail attached to a board. She was taken to the local ER, where the nail was removed after a radiograph demonstrated that no bone injury was sustained (Figure 1). The patient had documentation of having received her routine 2-, 4- and 6-month immunizations including tetanus, followed by a 4th dose of DTaP at 18 months. She has received no tetanus toxoid since then.

In separate studies, the capsular group B meningococcal vaccine, or 4CMenB, demonstrated close to 60% effectiveness against meningococcal group B disease in a vaccination program for infants in England, but did not provide herd protection among adolescents during a trial in Australia, researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Under a newly approved program, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced it will fund a global emergency stockpile of Ebola virus vaccines available to countries for outbreak response and prevention.

ATLANTA — Limited knowledge about inactivated vaccines, misconceptions and fears, as well as long wait times and accessibility issues are among the leading drivers of influenza vaccine hesitancy among adults with rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, according to a presenter at ACR/ARP 2019.

ORLANDO — Although proper vaccination is crucial for all patients with rheumatic diseases, rheumatology nurses who work with children often contend with parental concerns regarding vaccines and must know how best to approach vaccine hesitancy and debunk vaccination myths, according to a presentation at the Rheumatology Nurses Society Annual Conference.

GSK has transferred the rights to three experimental vaccines against the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses to the Sabin Vaccine Institute, a nonprofit vaccine advocacy and development group, saying it gives them a better chance to one day be used to protect people.