Monthly Archives: December 2018

Investigation of the risk factors associated with the failure of hepatitis B vaccination of neonates in Yunnan province, China

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International Journal of Infectious Diseases
December 2018 Volume 77, p1-118
https://www.ijidonline.com/issue/S1201-9712(18)X0012-5

Investigation of the risk factors associated with the failure of hepatitis B vaccination of neonates in Yunnan province, China
Feng Wang, Wenyu Kang, Wenting Zhou, Qiudong Su, Shengli Bi, Feng Qiu, Qiongfen Li
p90–95
Published online: October 5, 2018

Increasing the Participation of Pregnant Women in Clinical Trials

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JAMA
November 27, 2018, Vol 320, No. 20, Pages 2053-2160
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/issue.aspx

Viewpoint
Increasing the Participation of Pregnant Women in Clinical Trials
Katrina Heyrana, MD, PhD; Heather M. Byers, MD; Pamela Stratton, MD
JAMA. 2018;320(20):2077-2078. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.17716
This Viewpoint discusses widespread perceptions of vulnerability and risk that discourage enrollment of pregnant women in clinical trials, and calls for actionable guidelines to overcome those perceptions and eliminate barriers to their participation.

 

The disgraceful neglect of childhood pneumonia

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Lancet Global Health
Dec 2018 Volume 6 Number 12 e1253-e1404
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/issue/current

Editorial
The disgraceful neglect of childhood pneumonia
The Lancet Global Health

This week WHO held its first ever Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health and published an associated report, Prescribing clean air, which summarised the “uniquely damaging” effects of breathing polluted air on the health of children. The evidence in this age group is compelling: some of the stark headline figures include the fact that 93% of children younger than 5 years globally live in environments where levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exceed the WHO guidelines and that air pollution, both ambient and household, contributed to more than half a million deaths from lower respiratory tract infections in children under 5 years in 2016.

Lower respiratory tract infections, by which we usually mean pneumonia, are the second leading cause of death in under-5s worldwide, and the leading cause in Africa. Air pollution is just one of many poverty-linked risk factors, others being undernutrition, poor hygiene, limited or no breastfeeding, and lack of access to vaccines. In turn, death rates in those who succumb to infection are much higher in impoverished regions than in higher-income ones owing to slow care seeking (stemming from poor health education or geographical or financial barriers to care), diagnostic failure, and inappropriate treatment.

The WHO report recognises that the issue of air pollution, particularly ambient air pollution, is largely a high-level issue for governments and regions, and its recommendations for health professionals centre around awareness-raising, research, advocacy, and prescribing of household-level solutions (such as switching to cleaner fuels, where possible). But what about the other, potentially more tractable, risk factors and system failures that contribute to pneumonia’s standing as a barely surpassed killer of children?

A simple search of this journal’s website reveals a healthy number of research and opinion pieces that combine the topic of pneumonia with those of breastfeeding (28 articles in 5 years), nutrition (11 articles), and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene; 5 articles). Similarly, in this journal alone, pneumonia vaccination, diagnosis, and treatment have all received recent attention. In this month’s issue, for example, Eileen Dunne and colleagues report positive effects of the roll-out of 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) on direct and indirect carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Fiji, and Keith Klugman and colleagues highlight the potential for PCV to reduce the burden of mortality from S pneumoniae–influenza co-infection. January also saw the publication of Ambrose Agweyu and colleagues’ important paper on the appropriateness (or not) of WHO’s updated guidance on management of childhood pneumonia.

Why, then, is there so little cross-disciplinary global solidarity around childhood pneumonia? Or, as Kevin Watkins and Devi Sridhar put it in The Lancet recently, why is it “a global cause without champions”? They point out that pneumonia does not feature in WHO’s latest Global Programme of Work and that no major donor has made the cause their own. In fact, according to the report Sizing up pneumonia research, pneumonia research received just US$84 in funding per death in 2015, compared with $336 for tuberculosis, $2120 for HIV, and $3585 for influenza. Further, pneumonia barely registers as a top child killer in the minds of the general public. A straw poll of non-medical acquaintances pointed to malaria or diarrhoea as the most likely candidates. Yes, we have the upcoming World Pneumonia Day on November 12 (the website of which remained sadly unpopulated as we went to press), and WHO released a Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD) in 2013. Yet there has otherwise been relative quiet on the global and national fronts.

In trying to explain the neglect, Watkins and Sridhar point to the poverty-linked nature of pneumonia, in children particularly, and the fact that—unlike cholera, measles, or HIV—it is not easily transmitted across social boundaries into the constituencies with the most political influence. They call for all high-burden countries to adopt integrated pneumonia action plans framed around the GAPPD and for a global summit on pneumonia. We concur. A child dying of pneumonia may be more difficult to imagine than one dying from inhaling visibly polluted air, but the solutions, in large part, are much closer at hand.

Effect of ten-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine introduction on pneumococcal carriage in Fiji: results from four annual cross-sectional carriage surveys

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Lancet Global Health
Dec 2018 Volume 6 Number 12 e1253-e1404
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/issue/current
Editorial

Articles
Effect of ten-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine introduction on pneumococcal carriage in Fiji: results from four annual cross-sectional carriage surveys
Eileen M Dunne, Catherine Satzke, Felisita T Ratu, Eleanor F G Neal, Laura K Boelsen, Silivia Matanitobua, Casey L Pell, Monica L Nation, Belinda D Ortika, Rita Reyburn, Kylie Jenkins, Cattram Nguyen, Katherine Gould, Jason Hinds, Lisi Tikoduadua, Joseph Kado, Eric Rafai, Mike Kama, E Kim Mulholland, Fiona M Russell

Estimating the cost of vaccine development against epidemic infectious diseases: a cost minimisation study

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Lancet Global Health
Dec 2018 Volume 6 Number 12 e1253-e1404
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/issue/current

Estimating the cost of vaccine development against epidemic infectious diseases: a cost minimisation study
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations was established in 2016, to develop vaccines that can contribute to preparedness for outbreaks of epidemic infectious diseases. Evidence on vaccine development costs for such diseases is scarce. Our goal was to estimate the minimum cost for achieving vaccine research and development preparedness targets in a portfolio of 11 epidemic infectious diseases, accounting for vaccine pipeline constraints and uncertainty in research and development preparedness outcomes.
Dimitrios Gouglas, Tung Thanh Le, Klara Henderson, Aristidis Kaloudis, Trygve Danielsen, Nicholas Caspersen Hammersland, James M Robinson, Penny M Heaton, John-Arne Røttingen

Global, regional, and national burden of tuberculosis, 1990–2016: results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2016 Study

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Lancet Infectious Diseases
Dec 2018 Volume 18 Number 12 p1289-1410  e368-e407
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/issue/current

Articles
Global, regional, and national burden of tuberculosis, 1990–2016: results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2016 Study
GBD Tuberculosis Collaborators
1329
Open Access

Global, regional, and national burden of tuberculosis, 1990–2016: results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2016 Study

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Lancet Infectious Diseases
Dec 2018 Volume 18 Number 12 p1289-1410  e368-e407
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/issue/current

Articles
Global, regional, and national burden of tuberculosis, 1990–2016: results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2016 Study
GBD Tuberculosis Collaborators
1329
Open Access

Effectiveness of influenza vaccination on influenza-associated hospitalisations over time among children in Hong Kong: a test-negative case-control study

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Lancet Respiratory Medicine
Dec 2018 Volume 6 Number 12 p885-962  e56-e57
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/issue/current

Articles
Effectiveness of influenza vaccination on influenza-associated hospitalisations over time among children in Hong Kong: a test-negative case-control study
Shuo Feng, Susan S Chiu, Eunice L Y Chan, Mike Y W Kwan, Joshua S C Wong, Chi-Wai Leung, Yiu Chung Lau, Sheena G Sullivan, J S Malik Peiris, Benjamin J Cowling

Progress Toward Eliminating Mother to Child Transmission of HIV in Kenya: Review of Treatment Guidelines Uptake and Pediatric Transmission Between 2013 and 2016—A Follow Up

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Maternal and Child Health Journal
Volume 22, Issue 12, December 2018
https://link.springer.com/journal/10995/22/12/page/1

From the Field
Progress Toward Eliminating Mother to Child Transmission of HIV in Kenya: Review of Treatment Guidelines Uptake and Pediatric Transmission Between 2013 and 2016—A Follow Up
Ruby Angeline Pricilla, Melinda Brown…

Cost Effectiveness of Quadrivalent Influenza Vaccines Compared with Trivalent Influenza Vaccines in Young Children and Older Adults in Korea

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PharmacoEconomics
Volume 36, Issue 12, December 2018
https://link.springer.com/journal/40273/36/12/page/1

Original Research Article
Cost Effectiveness of Quadrivalent Influenza Vaccines Compared with Trivalent Influenza Vaccines in Young Children and Older Adults in Korea
Yun-Kyung Kim, Joon Young Song, Hyeongap Jang, Tae Hyun Kim, Heejo Koo…

Machine learning in population health: Opportunities and threats

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PLoS Medicine
http://www.plosmedicine.org/
(Accessed 1 Dec 2018)

Perspective
Machine learning in population health: Opportunities and threats
Abraham D. Flaxman, Theo Vos
| published 27 Nov 2018 PLOS Medicine
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002702
Machine learning (ML) has succeeded in complex tasks by trading experts and programmers for data and nonparametric statistical models. However, the applications for which ML has been successfully deployed in health and biomedicine remain limited [1]. These limits also apply in population health, in which we are concerned with the health outcomes of a group of individuals and the distribution of outcomes within the group. In our metrics, we deal with messy global health data, and a large effort goes into piecing together sparse, noisy information to understand what causes how much health loss, where it occurs, and how it is changing. In our interventions, we often face stringent constraints on resources and need to develop appropriate and acceptable solutions under these constraints. How might ML-based approaches change population health? Here, we discuss opportunities and threats from ML, with our views on further development needed within ML to create the best possible outcomes…

 

HIV-positive gay men’s knowledge and perceptions of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV vaccination: A qualitative study

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PLoS One
http://www.plosone.org/
[Accessed 1 Dec 2018]

Research Article
HIV-positive gay men’s knowledge and perceptions of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV vaccination: A qualitative study
Daniel Grace, Mark Gaspar, Rachelle Paquette, Ron Rosenes, Ann N. Burchell, Troy Grennan, Irving E. Salit
| published 29 Nov 2018 PLOS ONE
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207953

Evaluating science communication

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PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
of America
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/
[Accessed 1 Dec 2018]

Evaluating science communication
Baruch Fischhoff
PNAS published ahead of print November 26, 2018.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805863115
Abstract
Effective science communication requires assembling scientists with knowledge relevant to decision makers, translating that knowledge into useful terms, establishing trusted two-way communication channels, evaluating the process, and refining it as needed. Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda [National Research Council (2017)] surveys the scientific foundations for accomplishing these tasks, the research agenda for improving them, and the essential collaborative relations with decision makers and communication professionals. Recognizing the complexity of the science, the decisions, and the communication processes, the report calls for a systems approach. This perspective offers an approach to creating such systems by adapting scientific methods to the practical constraints of science communication. It considers staffing (are the right people involved?), internal collaboration (are they talking to one another?), and external collaboration (are they talking to other stakeholders?). It focuses on contexts where the goal of science communication is helping people to make autonomous choices rather than promoting specific behaviors (e.g., voter turnout, vaccination rates, energy consumption). The approach is illustrated with research in two domains: decisions about preventing sexual assault and responding to pandemic disease.

Communicating uncertainty in policy analysis

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PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
of America
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/
[Accessed 1 Dec 2018]

Communicating uncertainty in policy analysis
Charles F. Manski
PNAS published ahead of print November 26, 2018.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1722389115
Abstract
The term “policy analysis” describes scientific evaluations of the impacts of past public policies and predictions of the outcomes of potential future policies. A prevalent practice has been to report policy analysis with incredible certitude. That is, exact predictions of policy outcomes are routine, while expressions of uncertainty are rare. However, predictions and estimates often are fragile, resting on unsupported assumptions and limited data. Therefore, the expressed certitude is not credible. This paper summarizes my work documenting incredible certitude and calling for transparent communication of uncertainty. I present a typology of practices that contribute to incredible certitude, give illustrative examples, and offer suggestions on how to communicate uncertainty.

Scientific communication in a post-truth society

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PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
of America
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/
[Accessed 1 Dec 2018]

Scientific communication in a post-truth society
Shanto Iyengar and Douglas S. Massey
PNAS published ahead of print November 26, 2018.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805868115
Abstract
Within the scientific community, much attention has focused on improving communications between scientists, policy makers, and the public. To date, efforts have centered on improving the content, accessibility, and delivery of scientific communications. Here we argue that in the current political and media environment faulty communication is no longer the core of the problem. Distrust in the scientific enterprise and misperceptions of scientific knowledge increasingly stem less from problems of communication and more from the widespread dissemination of misleading and biased information. We describe the profound structural shifts in the media environment that have occurred in recent decades and their connection to public policy decisions and technological changes. We explain how these shifts have enabled unscrupulous actors with ulterior motives increasingly to circulate fake news, misinformation, and disinformation with the help of trolls, bots, and respondent-driven algorithms. We document the high degree of partisan animosity, implicit ideological bias, political polarization, and politically motivated reasoning that now prevail in the public sphere and offer an actual example of how clearly stated scientific conclusions can be systematically perverted in the media through an internet-based campaign of disinformation and misinformation. We suggest that, in addition to attending to the clarity of their communications, scientists must also develop online strategies to counteract campaigns of misinformation and disinformation that will inevitably follow the release of findings threatening to partisans on either end of the political spectrum.

 

Behavior Change, Health, and Health Disparities 2018: Tobacco Regulatory Science

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Preventive Medicine
Volume 117, Pages 1-114 (December 2018)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/preventive-medicine/vol/117/suppl/C

Behavior Change, Health, and Health Disparities 2018: Tobacco Regulatory Science
Edited by Stephen T. Higgins
This Special Issue of Preventive Medicine (PM) is the 5th in a series on behavior change, health, and health disparities. Unhealthy behavior patterns (i.e., lifestyle choices) including cigarette smoking and other substance abuse, physical inactivity, unhealthy food choices, and non-adherence with recommended medical regimens, undermine U.S. population health by increasing risk for chronic disease and premature death. This Special Issue brings together scholarly contributions from the emerging area of tobacco regulatory science to examine current topics of critical importance to reducing the burden of cigarette smoking on U.S. population health. More specifically, three related topics are examined including (a) the potential for reducing smoking by adopting a national policy that would cap the nicotine content of cigarettes at minimally-addictive levels; (b) increasing scientific understanding of cigarette smoking and other tobacco use among populations that are especially vulnerable to initiating smoking, tobacco addiction, and its adverse health consequences; and (c) the potential of a harm-reduction strategy for reducing the burden of smoking by advocating that those who are unwilling or unable to quit nicotine use substitute electronic cigarettes or other non-combusted sources of nicotine for cigarettes in order to avoid exposure to the other toxins in tobacco smoke that are most responsible for smoking morbidity and mortality. While tremendous progress has been made in reducing overall U.S. smoking prevalence and its adverse health impacts, more needs to be done. This Special Issue offers some ideas that have the potential to make a substantive contribution towards that goal.

From Local Action to National Progress on 5 Major Health Challenges: The Bloomberg American Health Initiative

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Public Health Reports
Volume 133 Issue 1_suppl, November/December 2018
https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/phrg/133/1_suppl

From Local Action to National Progress on 5 Major Health Challenges: The Bloomberg American Health Initiative
Guest Editor: Joshua M. Sharfstein, Jessica Leighton, Alfred Sommer and Ellen J. MacKenzie
The articles in this supplemental issue of Public Health Reports provide insight into what it will take for the field of public health to tackle 5 of the most complex and difficult health problems of our time: (1) large numbers of adolescents disconnected from work and school; (2) violence (including gun violence), intimate partner and sexual violence, and suicide; (3) opioid addiction and overdose; (4) a dysfunctional food system associated with obesity; and (5) threats to the environment.
These 5 problems are the central focus of the new Bloomberg American Health Initiative, which MacKenzie et al1 describe in their Commentary. “All 5 areas of focus are serious problems facing the nation, with deep connections to economic and social factors,” they write. “None have quick fixes.”1 Yet there is reason to believe that public health can lead the way toward meaningful progress.
From December 2017 to April 2018, the initiative held 5 national symposia to document the state of understanding and to inform a public health perspective on each challenge. This supplement includes these perspectives, as well as commentaries in the cross-cutting areas of evidence, policy, and equity. Together, these articles provide a road map for efforts to bring public health training to frontline organizations, pursue insights through innovative research, and advance effective programs, policies, and strategies for change…

An Ounce of Prevention: Identifying Cues to (In)Action for Maternal Vaccine Refusal

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Qualitative Health Research
Volume 28 Issue 14, December 2018
http://qhr.sagepub.com/content/current

Research Articles
An Ounce of Prevention: Identifying Cues to (In)Action for Maternal Vaccine Refusal
Melissa L. Crrion
First Published August 10, 2018; pp. 2183–2194
Preview
Recent increases in childhood vaccine exemption rates are a source of concern within the public health community. Drawing from the health belief model and in-depth interviews with 50 mothers (n = 50) who refused one or more vaccine, the aim of this study was to identify the specific reasons and the broader decision context(s) that underscored participants’ vaccine refusal. Results indicate that the vast majority of participants supported vaccination until a particular cue motivated them to consider otherwise, and qualitative analysis identified three main categories into which these cues fell: perceived adverse reactions, endorsements from health care professionals, and perceived contradiction among expert-endorsed messages. These categories point to the central role of health communication in motivating vaccine refusal. Better understanding these cues can inform vaccine communication scholarship and practice, and also lend theoretical insight into the intertextual nature of controversial health messages and decisions.

Saúde universal com equidade, sem deixar ninguém para tras [Universal health with equity, leaving no one behind]

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Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública/Pan American Journal of Public Health (RPSP/PAJPH)
http://www.paho.org/journal/index.php?option=com_content&view=featured&Itemid=101

Recently Published Articles
Saúde universal com equidade, sem deixar ninguém para tras [Universal health with equity, leaving no one behind]
Joaquín Molina
Editorial | PDF (also in English): https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.173 | Published 27 November 2018

Análise crítica da interculturalidade na Política Nacional de Atenção às Populações Indígenas no Brasil [Critical analysis of interculturality in the National Policy for the Care of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil]

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Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública/Pan American Journal of Public Health(RPSP/PAJPH)
http://www.paho.org/journal/index.php?option=com_content&view=featured&Itemid=101
Recently Published Articles

Análise crítica da interculturalidade na Política Nacional de Atenção às Populações Indígenas no Brasil [Critical analysis of interculturality in the National Policy for the Care of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil]

Leo Pedrana, Leny Alves Bomfim Trad, Maria Luiza Garnelo Pereira, Mônica de Oliveira Nunes de Torrenté and Sara Emanuela de Carvalho Mota
Opinion and analysis l PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.178 l Published 27 November 2018

 

 

Define the human right to science

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Science         
30 November 2018   Vol 362, Issue 6418
http://www.sciencemag.org/current.dtl

Editorial
Define the human right to science
By Jessica M. Wyndham, Margaret Weigers Vitullo
Science30 Nov 2018 : 975
Summary
The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly will mark its 70th anniversary on 10 December. One right enshrined in the UDHR is the right of everyone to “share in scientific advancement and its benefits.” In 1966, this right was incorporated into the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a treaty to which 169 countries have voluntarily agreed to be bound. Unlike most other human rights, however, the right to science has never been legally defined and is often ignored in practice by the governments bound to implement it. An essential first step toward giving life to the right to science is for the UN to legally define it.

 

A review protocol on research partnerships: a Coordinated Multicenter Team approach

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Systematic Reviews
https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles
[Accessed 1 Dec 2018]

Protocol
A review protocol on research partnerships: a Coordinated Multicenter Team approach
Research partnership approaches, in which researchers and stakeholders work together collaboratively on a research project, are an important component of research, knowledge translation, and implementation. De…
Authors: Femke Hoekstra, Kelly J. Mrklas, Kathryn M. Sibley, Tram Nguyen, Mathew Vis-Dunbar, Christine J. Neilson, Leah K. Crockett, Heather L. Gainforth and Ian D. Graham
Citation: Systematic Reviews 2018 7:217
Published on: 30 November 2018

Post-exposure prophylaxis for measles with immunoglobulins revised recommendations of the standing committee on vaccination in Germany

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Vaccine
Volume 36, Issue 52   Pages 7907-8164 (18 December 2018)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/vaccine/vol/36/issue/52

Review article   Abstract only
Post-exposure prophylaxis for measles with immunoglobulins revised recommendations of the standing committee on vaccination in Germany
Dorothea Matysiak-Klose, Sabine Santibanez, Christine Schwerdtfeger, Judith Koch, … Ulrich Heininger
Pages 7916-7922

A big pertussis outbreak in a primary school with high vaccination coverage in northern China: An evidence of the emerging of the disease in China

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Vaccine
Volume 36, Issue 52   Pages 7907-8164 (18 December 2018)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/vaccine/vol/36/issue/52

Review article   Abstract only
A big pertussis outbreak in a primary school with high vaccination coverage in northern China: An evidence of the emerging of the disease in China
Haitao Huang, Ping Gao, Zhigang Gao, Lijuan Wang, … Ying Zhang
Pages 7950-7955

Coverage and timeliness of vaccination and the validity of routine estimates: Insights from a vaccine registry in Kenya

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Vaccine
Volume 36, Issue 52   Pages 7907-8164 (18 December 2018)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/vaccine/vol/36/issue/52

Review article  Open access
Coverage and timeliness of vaccination and the validity of routine estimates: Insights from a vaccine registry in Kenya
Ifedayo M.O. Adetifa, Boniface Karia, Alex Mutuku, Tahreni Bwanaali, … J. Anthony G. Scott
Pages 7965-7974

Outsmart HPV: Acceptability and short-term effects of a web-based HPV vaccination intervention for young adult gay and bisexual men

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Vaccine
Volume 36, Issue 52   Pages 7907-8164 (18 December 2018)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/vaccine/vol/36/issue/52

Review article   Abstract only
Outsmart HPV: Acceptability and short-term effects of a web-based HPV vaccination intervention for young adult gay and bisexual men
Annie-Laurie McRee, Abigail Shoben, Jose A. Bauermeister, Mira L. Katz, … Paul L. Reiter
Pages 8158-8164

 

Impact of Out-of-Pocket Cost on Herpes Zoster Vaccine Uptake: An Observational Study in a Medicare Managed Care Population

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Vaccines — Open Access Journal
http://www.mdpi.com/journal/vaccines
(Accessed 1 Dec 2018)

Open Access  Article
Impact of Out-of-Pocket Cost on Herpes Zoster Vaccine Uptake: An Observational Study in a Medicare Managed Care Population
by Zhuliang Tao, Yong Li, Stephen Stemkowski, Kelly D. Johnson, Camilo J. Acosta, Dongmu Zhang and A. Mark Fendrick
Vaccines 2018, 6(4), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines6040078 – 21 November 2018
Abstract
Herpes zoster (HZ) vaccination is approved for adults aged 50+ for the prevention of HZ, but it is underutilized. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between out-of-pocket cost and HZ vaccine utilization. Adults aged 65 or older enrolled for at least 12 months in Medicare Advantage/Part D (MAPD) and Medicare Part D only (PDP) plans from 1 January 2007 to 30 June 2014 were selected. Abandonment was defined as a reversed claim for HZ vaccine with no other paid claim within 90 days. Out-of-pocket costs used were actual amounts recorded in the claim. Overall, the HZ vaccine abandonment rate was 7.3%. Mean out-of-pocket costs were higher for individuals who abandoned versus those who did not ($88 (±$55) versus $80 (± $49)). Logistic regression indicated individuals with out-of-pocket costs of $80–$90 were 21% more likely (OR = 1.21, 1.16–1.27 95% CI), and those with out-of-pocket costs >$90 were 90% more likely (OR = 1.90, 1.85–1.96 95% CI) to abandon than those with out-of-pocket costs <$80. The models also suggested that socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic disparities in vaccine abandonment existed. Different vaccine targeting efforts and pharmacy benefit design strategies may be needed to increase use, improve adherence, and minimize disparities

Willingness to Participate and Associated Factors in a Zika Vaccine Trial in Indonesia: A Cross-Sectional Study

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Viruses
2018, 10(11), 648
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/10/11

Open Access Article
Willingness to Participate and Associated Factors in a Zika Vaccine Trial in Indonesia: A Cross-Sectional Study
by Harapan Harapan, Mudatsir Mudatsir, Amanda Yufika, Yusuf Nawawi, Nur Wahyuniati, Samsul Anwar, Fitria Yusri, Novi Haryanti, Nanda Putri Wijayanti, Rizal Rizal, Devi Fitriani, Nurul Fadhliati Maulida, Muhammad Syahriza, Ikram Ikram, Try Purwo Fandoko, Muniati Syahadah, Febrivan Wahyu Asrizal, Kurnia F. Jamil, Yogambigai Rajamoorthy, Abram Luther Wagner, David Alexander Groneberg, Ulrich Kuch, Ruth Müller, R. Tedjo Sasmono and Allison Imrie
Viruses 2018, 10(11), 648; https://doi.org/10.3390/v10110648
Received: 23 October 2018 / Revised: 12 November 2018 / Accepted: 13 November 2018 / Published: 18 November 2018
Viewed by 307 | PDF Full-text (464 KB) | HTML Full-text | XML Full-text
Abstract
One of the crucial steps during trials for Zika and other vaccines is to recruit participants and to understand how participants’ attitudes and sociodemographic characteristics affect willingness to participate (WTP). This study was conducted to assess WTP, its explanatory variables, and the impact of financial compensation on WTP in Indonesia. A health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in eleven regencies in the Aceh and West Sumatra provinces of Indonesia. Participants were recruited via a convenience sampling method and were interviewed. The associations between explanatory variables and WTP were assessed using a two-step logistic regression analysis. A total of 1,102 parents were approached, and of these 956 (86.8%) completed the interview and were included in analysis. Of those, 144 (15.1%) were willing to participate in a Zika vaccine trial without a financial compensation. In the multivariate analysis, WTP was tied to an age of more than 50 years old, compared to 20–29 years (odds ratio (OR): 5.0; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.37–10.53), to being female (OR: 2.20; 95% CI: 1.11–4.37), and to having heard about Zika (OR: 2.41; 95% CI: 1.59–3.65). Participants’ WTP increased gradually with higher financial compensation. The rate of WTP increased to 62.3% at the highest offer (US$ 350.4), and those who were still unwilling to participate (37.7%) had a poorer attitude towards childhood vaccination. This study highlights that pre-existing knowledge about Zika and attitudes towards childhood vaccination are important in determining community members being willing to participate in a vaccine trial. Financial incentives are still an important factor to enhance participant recruitment during a vaccine trial.

From Google Scholar & other sources: Selected Journal Articles, Newsletters, Dissertations, Theses, Commentary

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From Google Scholar & other sources: Selected Journal Articles, Newsletters, Dissertations, Theses, Commentary

Revista de Saúde Pública
Vol 52 (2018)
What is the importance of vaccine hesitancy in the drop of vaccination coverage in Brazil?
Ana Paula Sayuri Sato
Abstract
The successful Programa Nacional de Imunizações do Brasil (Brazilian National Immunization Program) has been experiencing a major challenge with regard to vaccination coverage for children, which has been dropping. Several aspects are related, but certainly vaccine hesitancy has been strengthening itself as one of the main concerns of Brazilian public administrators and researchers. Vaccine hesitancy is the delay in acceptance or refusal despite having the recommended vaccines available in health services, being a phenomenon that varies over time, over location and over types of vaccines. Hesitant individuals are between the two poles of total acceptance and refusal of vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new in European and North-American countries, and even in Brazil, it has been studied even if under another name. The drop of vaccination coverage observed from 2016 on reiterates the relevance of the theme, which must be better understood through scientific research.

Revista Latinoamericana de Infectología Pediátrica
2018; 31 (3)
Dengue surveillance in children who received CYD tetravalent dengue vaccine during their second year of life while participating in a clinical trial in a southern state of Mexico
JL Arredondo-García, FI Rodríguez Melo, S Canche…
ABSTRACT
Dengue is a systemic viral infection transmitted to humans by mosquitoes and is a public health challenge due to its rapid global expansion and lack of specific therapeutic agents. To date (January 2018), the CYD-TDV vaccine has been granted licensure in 19 countries. The World Health Organization global strategy for dengue prevention and control 2012-2020 has, as a global goal, the reduction of the burden of disease. One of the technical elements of this strategy is the implementation of a dengue vaccine. This is an epidemiological descriptive study of 248 subjects with retrospective and passive surveillance for 2 years; from this cohort, 162 subjects, ages 4 years 8 months to 5 years 9 months, underwent active surveillance. Eligible participants were children who participated in the previous randomized phase III trial conducted in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. All the subjects who completed the previous trial were included for retrospective/passive surveillance; the subjects who underwent active surveillance (n = 162 subjects) were identified during a three-month enrollment period. Blood draws and phone calls (study procedures) were performed under the applicable local and international regulations. None of the 248 participants followed for passive surveillance had a reported confirmed dengue case. Forty-one cases of suspected vector-transmitted disease without virological or serological confirmation were detected. The result of this study provides support for the safety of the vaccine in this age group. Further follow-ups in similar populations should be done in order to obtain more information.

Media/Policy Watch

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Media/Policy Watch

This watch section is intended to alert readers to substantive news, analysis and opinion from the general media and selected think tanks and similar organizations on vaccines, immunization, global public health and related themes. Media Watch is not intended to be exhaustive, but indicative of themes and issues CVEP is actively tracking. This section will grow from an initial base of newspapers, magazines and blog sources, and is segregated from Journal Watch above which scans the peer-reviewed journal ecology.

We acknowledge the Western/Northern bias in this initial selection of titles and invite suggestions for expanded coverage. We are conservative in our outlook in adding news sources which largely report on primary content we are already covering above. Many electronic media sources have tiered, fee-based subscription models for access. We will provide full-text where content is published without restriction, but most publications require registration and some subscription level.

The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
[No new, unique, relevant content]
 
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
[No new, unique, relevant content]
 
The Economist
http://www.economist.com/
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
A battle within a battle – The struggle to get Ebola vaccine to rebel-held areas of Congo
Jabs can stop the epidemic. But men with machetes can stop the vaccinators
Middle East and Africa
Nov 29th 2018
 
 
Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/home/uk
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
[No new, unique, relevant content]
 
 
Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
2018 Surges In Measles In Europe And US Show Importance Of Herd Immunity
24 November 2018
This is what happens when you tell people to not get the measles vaccine without providing a viable alternative. In just the first 6 months of 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region had over 41,000 measles cases, which has already made 2018 the worst year for measles in the decade by far. The previous high was 23,927 for all of 2017. During the first 6 months of 2018, at least 37 people in Europe have died from the disease. Expect these number to be higher by the time we get to the end of the year. Measles is up in the U.S. this year as well.
 
 
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
[No new, unique, relevant content]
 
 
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
[No new, unique, relevant content]
 
 
The Guardian
http://www.guardiannews.com/
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
[No new, unique, relevant content]
 
 
New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
[No new, unique, relevant content]
 
 
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
Health
UN: Polio Remains Global Emergency, Eradication at Risk
The World Health Organization says the ongoing attempt to eradicate polio remains a global emergency amid an increase in cases for the first time in years and a worrying number of outbreaks sparked by the vaccine.
Nov. 30, 2018
 
 
Africa
US Urged to Send Ebola Experts In as Congo Outbreak Worsens
Global health experts are urging the Trump administration to allow U.S. government disease specialists — “some of the world’s most experienced” — to return to northeastern Congo to help fight the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history.
Nov. 30, 2018
 
 
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/home-page?_wsjregion=na,us&_homepage=/home/us
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
[No new, unique, relevant content]
 
 
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Accessed 1 Dec 2018
Why small groups of vaccine refusers can make large groups of people sick
29 November 2018
Saad B. Omer