Vaccination

As far as hot-button health care topics go, it is hard to top vaccines. Even dropped into a casual conversation, the idea itself — and this includes the slang term for opponents of vaccination — can cause tension and divisiveness.

Trivalent and quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccines offered similar protection against influenza B illness during four recent influenza seasons, study findings showed.

Citing a lack of time and forgetfulness, 55% of millennials did not get the influenza vaccine this year, according to a recent survey of 1,000 adults that was commissioned by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

The novel Triplex vaccine induced immunity to cytomegalovirus, or CMV, and reduced rates of complications from the virus in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, according to results from a phase 2 randomized clinical trial published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

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.

WHO released a list of 10 global health challenges for the new decade that it says leaders are failing to invest in appropriately. It was the week’s top story in infectious disease.

Cervical Cancer Awareness Month is observed every January.

European countries that mandated vaccination and imposed stiffer financial penalties for noncompliance had higher vaccination coverage against measles and pertussis, according to a study covering 29 European countries published in Pediatrics.

Respiratory syncytial virus causes a significant burden in children aged younger than 2 years. Results from a study published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society showed that 49,509 to 59,867 cases of community-onset RSV-associated hospitalizations occurred among children in this age group during the 2014-2015 RSV season — an estimate that might help inform vaccination strategies.

Despite a CDC recommendation that everyone aged 6 months or older receive a seasonal influenza vaccine, only 24.5% of childcare centers reported having a child influenza vaccine requirement, and even fewer centers required caregivers to be vaccinated, according to a study published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.