Influenza Vaccination

The rate of vaccine exemptions rose slightly among children entering kindergarten in the 2018-2019 school year, with 2.5% having an exemption from at least one vaccine, according to new data published in MMWR. But researchers suggested an additional target to improve vaccine coverage rates in the United States: underimmunized children who begin school under grace periods or provisional enrollment.

In a study conducted among nearly 500 influenza vaccine-naive mother-infant pairs in Malawi, researchers found that maternal HIV infection was associated with lower antibody responses to influenza A viruses in both mothers and their infants, suggesting that influenza vaccines “may have variable efficacy in sub-Saharan Africa” where there is a high burden of HIV, researchers said.

Only 34.8% of pregnant women have received both the influenza and Tdap vaccines, missing a chance to protect themselves and their infants from potential hospitalization and death, according to CDC data.

WASHINGTON — Influenza vaccination reduced the risk for influenza-related hospitalization in children by nearly half and the odds of death in adults by about 36% over several recent influenza seasons, according to CDC data from two studies presented at IDWeek.

WASHINGTON — Cell- and egg-based quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccines have comparable immunogenicity for children aged 4 years and older, according to results from a randomized controlled trial presented at IDWeek.

Survey results that showed that only 52% of adults in the United States plan to get the vaccine for this flu season and the FDA’s approval of a vaccine for smallpox and monkeypox were among to top stories in infectious disease last week.

Pregnant women are “considered the most important risk group” that needs to get the influenza vaccine, researchers wrote in Vaccine. The CDC reported that pregnant women who are vaccinated lower their risk for influenza-related hospitalization by an average of 40%.

WASHINGTON — Although influenza vaccination rates have increased, new data released by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases indicated that barely half of U.S. adults plan to get vaccinated against influenza this season.

Older adults with multiple myeloma in the United States significantly underused guideline-recommended supportive care measures, and this underutilization appeared linked to both facility and patient factors, according to a study published in Cancer.

Influenza remains an important threat to public health, and people with impaired immune systems are at particularly high risk for severe disease and complications. One comparative analysis showed that severely immunocompromised patients with influenza experienced significantly more hospitalizations, ICU admissions and mechanical ventilation than nonimmunocompromised patients. However, clinical signs and symptoms may be pronounced on initial presentation, underscoring the importance of seeking early medical attention. Additionally, antiviral resistance is more common and the mean viral shedding time was longer among immunocompromised patients (19 days compared with 6.4 days in healthy people).