The Decade of Vaccines (DoV) Collaboration announced new appointments in its structure. Dr. Seth Berkley, GAVI CEO, will be transitioning from his previous role on the Steering Committee to join the Leadership Council – the body responsible for providing guidance and strategic input toward the development of a global vaccine action plan, aiming to extend the full benefits of immunization to all people. Dr. Ciro de Quadros was appointed as Steering Committee Co-Chair. Dr. de Quadros, already active in the Collaboration, will be replacing Dr. Christopher Elias, who will be taking on a new role as a Leadership Council member.

http://www.dovcollaboration.org/leadership-appointments/

    GSK said it will provide an additional 180 million doses of its Synflorix pneumococcal vaccine to GAVI over the next 12 years to help expand immunisation programmes against pneumococcal disease to 72 developing countries by 2023. The action “builds on the 300 million doses that GSK committed to GAVI in March 2010 through an innovative financing mechanism known as the Advance Market Commitment (AMC). In total, up to 160 million children in developing countries could now be protected with Synflorix against pneumococcal disease by 2023.”

GSK noted that it is providing the additional 180 million doses of Synflorix to GAVI “at a small fraction of developed world prices.”

http://www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2011/2011-pressrelease-815404.htm

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Prevnar 13, a pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine, for people ages 50 years and older to prevent pneumonia and invasive disease caused by the bacterium, Streptococcus pneumoniae. Karen Midthun, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said, “According to recent information for the United States, it is estimated that approximately 300,000 adults 50 years of age and older are hospitalized yearly because of pneumococcal pneumonia. Pneumococcal disease is a substantial cause of illness and death. Today’s approval provides an additional vaccine for preventing pneumococcal pneumonia and invasive disease in this age group.” FDA noted that the new use for Prevnar 13 was approved under the agency’s accelerated approval pathway, which allows for earlier approval of treatments for serious and life-threatening illnesses. The pathway allows for the demonstration of effectiveness of a vaccine using an immune marker that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fda-expands-use-of-prevnar-13-vaccine-for-people-ages-50-and-older-136440078.html

WHO’s SAGE announced that it is establishing a new SAGE Working Group “on communication and dealing with vaccine hesitancy” and is soliciting proposals for experts to serve on this working group.” The terms of reference and expertise for the group are available here: Terms of reference and required expertise  pdf, 16kb Proposals for nominations should be sent by email to sageexecsec@who.int with Curriculum Vitae and indication of expertise and no later than Tuesday 17 January 2012.

http://www.who.int/immunization/sage/working_group_communication_dec2011/en/index.html

    The NIH announced that it established the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) “in a move to re-engineer the process of translating scientific discoveries into new drugs, diagnostics, and devices” with a budget of US$575 million. NCATS “will serve as the nation’s hub for catalyzing innovations in translational science. Working closely with partners in the regulatory, academic, nonprofit, and private sectors, NCATS will strive to identify and overcome hurdles that slow the development of effective treatments and cures.” NIH Director Dr. Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. commented, “Congressional support for the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences marks a major milestone in mobilizing the community effort required to revolutionize the science of translation. Patients suffering from debilitating and life threatening diseases do not have the luxury to wait the 13 years it currently takes to translate new scientific discoveries into treatments that could save or improve the quality of their lives.  The entire community must work together to forge a new paradigm, and NCATS aims to catalyze this effort.”

http://www.nih.gov/news/health/dec2011/od-23.htm

The MMWR Weekly for December 23, 2011 / Vol. 60 / No. 50 includes:
– Recommendations on the Use of Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus Vaccine in Males — Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2011

– Use of Hepatitis B Vaccination for Adults with Diabetes Mellitus: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)

Twitter Watch  21 December 2011 – 1 January 2012
Items of interest from a variety of twitter feeds associated with immunization, vaccines and global public health. This capture is highly selective and is by no means intended to be exhaustive.

UNICEF UNICEF
Video Report: UNICEF in 2011 – The year in review ~~~ uni.cf/yearofthechild ~~~ @UN #Flood #Food #Water #Conflict #Children
31 Dec

KaiserFamFound Kaiser Family Found
30 years of #AIDS – see the milestones in this interactive timeline ow.ly/887w2
31 Dec

IHME_UW IHME at UW
The STEPS NCD Risk Factors Survey, developed by WHO, is used by countries to measure major risk factors. #GHDxdata bit.ly/rD2ynK
30 Dec

WHO WHO
WHO concerned that new #H5N1 flu research could undermine the 2011 Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework. bit.ly/uR47nz
30 Dec

UNICEF UNICEF
The Government of Japan has announced a pledge of US$9.3 million to fund polio eradication efforts in Afghanistan uni.cf/sDQqYh
29 Dec

PATHtweets PATH
RT @PSIHealthyLives PSI CEO Karl Hofmann evaluates the top 10 #GlobalHealth achievements in 2011: ow.ly/8dcgR #whyforeignaid
29 Dec

USAIDGH USAID Global Health
Eleven Global Health Events in 2011 #globalhealth tinyurl.com/bw869rr
29 Dec

ArthurCaplan Arthur Caplan
Making microbes, keeping secrets on.msnbc.com/t4NtN1
27 Dec

AIDSvaccine IAVI
New issue of IAVI Report incl look at #flu #vaccine pipeline & recap of recent #HIV vaccine-related meetings: bit.ly/rpuLeG #research
27 Dec

UNICEF UNICEF
Simultaneous #measles and #polio vaccination drives to protect #children in #DRCongo ~~~ uni.cf/uqSp84 ~~~ @UNICEFPolio @endpolionow
26 Dec

GAVISeth Seth Berkley
It has been an incredible year. I bring to GAVI my IAVI tradition of writing an EOY letter. Read my reflections on 2011 ht.ly/88Nmp
23 Dec

cdchep CDC Hepatitis
New ACIP recommendation for #HepB vaccination for adults w/ diabetes now published in @CDCMMWR go.usa.gov/NyH #Hepatitis #HBV
22 Dec

GoHealthyPeople Healthy People 2020
Recommended immunizations are an important part of preparedness and are free under the #ACA: 1.usa.gov/rkUmOl.
22 Dec

GAVIAlliance GAVI Alliance
Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it will contribute $55.5M to #GAVI to support #immunization programmes- ht.ly/8733Z
21 Dec

Emerging Infectious Diseases
Volume 18, Number 1—January 2012
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/index.htm

Research

J. L. Isaac-Renton et al.Use of Lean Response to Improve Pandemic Influenza Surge in Public Health Laboratories

Abstract
A novel influenza A (H1N1) virus detected in April 2009 rapidly spread around the world. North American provincial and state laboratories have well-defined roles and responsibilities, including providing accurate, timely test results for patients and information for regional public health and other decision makers. We used the multidisciplinary response and rapid implementation of process changes based on Lean methods at the provincial public health laboratory in British Columbia, Canada, to improve laboratory surge capacity in the 2009 influenza pandemic. Observed and computer simulating evaluation results from rapid processes changes showed that use of Lean tools successfully expanded surge capacity, which enabled response to the 10-fold increase in testing demands.

Emerging Infectious Diseases
Volume 18, Number 1—January 2012
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/index.htm

Research
Modeling Insights into Haemophilus influenzae Type b Disease, Transmission, and Vaccine Programs
M. L. Jackson et al.

Abstract
In response to the 2007–2009 Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine shortage in the United States, we developed a flexible model of Hib transmission and disease for optimizing Hib vaccine programs in diverse populations and situations. The model classifies population members by age, colonization/disease status, and antibody levels, with movement across categories defined by differential equations. We implemented the model for the United States as a whole, England and Wales, and the Alaska Native population. This model accurately simulated Hib incidence in all 3 populations, including the increased incidence in England/Wales beginning in 1999 and the change in Hib incidence in Alaska Natives after switching Hib vaccines in 1996. The model suggests that a vaccine shortage requiring deferral of the booster dose could last 3 years in the United States before loss of herd immunity would result in increasing rates of invasive Hib disease in children <5 years of age.

Global Health
Winter 2012
http://www.globalhealthmagazine.com/in_this_issue/

– When Words Fail

– The Decade of Vaccines Collaboration

– The Art of Making Vaccines More Affordable

– Vaccines: A Top Priority for Global Health

– Vaccination Week in the Americas Goes Global

– On the Brink of a Watershed Moment for HIV Vaccine R&D

Health Policy and Planning
Volume 27 Issue 1 January 2012
http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/current

Commentaries
Anne Mills
Health policy and systems research: defining the terrain; identifying the methods
Health Policy Plan. (2012) 27(1): 1-7 doi:10.1093/heapol/czr006
Abstract
Across low- and middle-income countries on the one hand, and high-income countries on the other, there is confusion in the terminology relating to the study of health services and health systems. This commentary discusses health policy and systems research (HPSR) methods, drawing on the health services research literature and on recent work on HPSR. An earlier version of the text was written to contribute to discussions at a meeting organized by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, an agency set up in 1998 to promote and support such research in low- and middle-income countries. The paper comments on the field of HPSR methods, suggests priorities and identifies challenges facing the field of HPSR.

Thomas J Bossert
Health systems
Health Policy Plan. (2012) 27(1): 8-10 doi:10.1093/heapol/czr008
Abstract
There is an avalanche of interest in health systems with countries, donors, international experts and academic institutions all rushing to promote, fund or build capacity to address this wave of interest. As Anne Mills documents in an article in this volume, there is also a growing literature on how to think about health systems, how to use research on health systems to improve their performance, and pleas for greater investment in knowledge about health systems. We are probably riding on the crest of this new wave and it will be important to make use of it to further our knowledge about how to achieve health system effectiveness. With continuing global economic uncertainty, this wave may pass if we do not take advantage of it now.

It is useful to reflect on why there is such interest in this theme now. There are probably many converging causes but the most important, to my mind, is a replay of an old debate between vertical programmes and horizontal, integrated approaches that has experienced swings of interest at least since the Alma Ata Conference in 1978 emphasized the integrated primary health care approach. During the last decade or more, there has been a major focus on vertical disease-specific programmes supported by greatly increased funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among other donors. The major claim of these programmes was that by focusing on clear disease-specific objectives they would be more effective in shorter time periods and they could be held more accountable to donors (since the results could be more measurable) than the difficult and diverse efforts to improve the many elements of a health system through the horizontal …

JAMA   
http://jama.ama-assn.org/current.dtl
December 21, 2011, Vol 306, No. 23, pp 2537-2633

Global Health
Community Protection From Pneumococcus Infection
M. J. Friedrich
JAMA. 2011;306(23):2553.doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1806

Vaccination of young Gambian children against the pneumococcus bacterium reduced the carriage of vaccine-type pneumococci not only in vaccinated children but also in nonvaccinated older children and adults, reports an international team of researchers (Roca A et al. PLoS Med. 2011;8[10]:e1001107).

In a cluster randomized trial involving 21 rural villages in western Gambia, all residents in the intervention villages received the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine; in the control villages, only children younger than 30 months received the vaccine. The prevalence of nasopharyngeal carriage of vaccine-type pneumococcal serotypes was reduced in both the intervention and control villages in all age groups, revealing a potential herd effect from vaccination of young children. Vaccinating an entire village did not lead to an increase in non–vaccine-type strains for 2 years after vaccination.

Further long-term studies are planned.

Journal of Infectious Diseases
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jid/current
Volume 205 Issue 2 January 15, 2012

Editorial Commentaries
Stephen L. Cochi and Robert W. Linkins
The Final Phase of Polio Eradication: New Vaccines and Complex Choices
J Infect Dis. (2012) 205(2): 169-171 doi:10.1093/infdis/jir727

Extract
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) made rapid progress after its launch by the World Health Assembly in 1988, reducing polio cases by more than 99% from an estimated 350 000 in 1988 to 719 cases in 2000. However, further progress toward eradicating polio stalled after 2000 in a handful of tropical endemic countries, and the international spread of the virus from these endemic areas led to recurrent outbreaks in previously polio-free countries. One factor related to the stalled progress was the well-documented lower immunogenicity and effectiveness in tropical developing countries of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) [1,  2], so attention focused on developing and licensing monovalent type 1 and type 3 vaccines to improve the effectiveness of vaccination by avoiding cross-interference between the 3 serotypes that occurs following vaccination with the traditional trivalent OPV (tOPV). This issue of the Journal contains the most recent in a series of 3 clinical trials in 2 African (Egypt, South Africa) countries and 1  Asian (India) country, demonstrating the superior type-specific immunogenicity in developing countries of monovalent oral poliovirus vaccines (mOPVs), as compared with tOPV [3–6]. In particular, the 3 trials demonstrate the superior immune responses of monovalent OPV type 1 (mOPV1) and type 3 (mOPV3) compared with tOPV, either following 1 dose of vaccine given to newborn infants (in Egypt and South Africa), or 2 doses given at birth and 1 month of age (in India).

Monovalent or bivalent (types 1 and 3) OPV can overcome some of the limitations of tOPV, including the interference among the 3 Sabin strains. Because the type-2 component of tOPV replicates more efficiently and is considerably more immunogenic than the other components …

Journal of Infectious Diseases
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jid/current
Volume 205 Issue 2 January 15, 2012

Melinda A. Beck
Influenza and Obesity: Will Vaccines and Antivirals Protect?
J. Infect Dis. (2012) 205(2): 172-173 doi:10.1093/infdis/jir740

Extract
There is a worldwide pandemic of obesity. The World Health Organization estimates 500 million adults and almost 43 million children under the age of 5 years to be obese (body mass index >30) [1]. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one-third of the adult US population is obese. Obesity has been definitively linked to a wide range of comorbidities, including increased coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia [2]. Beyond the contribution of obesity to these chronic diseases, surprisingly little attention has been given to the effects of obesity on the immune response to infectious diseases.

Several studies have now reported that obesity was associated with a poor outcome following infection with 2009 pandemic influenza (pH1N1) [3–7]. Kwong and colleagues reported that obese individuals, in addition to being at risk from pH1N1, were also at greater risk for hospitalization from seasonal influenza infection [8]. In sum, these reports demonstrate that obesity increases the risks associated with influenza infection.

Beyond these clinical studies on the role of obesity in influenza infection, 2 studies in this issue of the Journal using a mouse model and pH1N1 infections provide new insights into obesity’s effect on the immune response to influenza virus infection and the ability of vaccination or antiviral treatment to mitigate the effects of infection.

Vaccination remains our …

Journal of Infectious Diseases
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jid/current
Volume 205 Issue 2 January 15, 2012

BACTERIA
Jennifer R. Scott, Eugene V. Millar, Marc Lipsitch, Lawrence H. Moulton, Robert Weatherholtz, Mindy J. Perilla, Delois M. Jackson, Bernard Beall, Mariddie J. Craig,
Raymond Reid, Mathuram Santosham, and Katherine L. O’Brien

Impact of More Than a Decade of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Use on Carriage and Invasive Potential in Native American Communities
J Infect Dis. (2012) 205(2): 280-288 doi:10.1093/infdis/jir730
Abstract

Background. We assessed the impact of 12 years of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) use on pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage and  serotype-specific invasive disease potential among Native Americans.

Methods. Families were enrolled in a carriage study from 2006 to 2008; nasopharyngeal specimens and risk factor information were collected monthly for 7 visits. Pneumococcal carriage prevalence was compared with that before (1998–2000) and during (2001–2002) PCV7 introduction. We compared invasive disease incidence and carriage prevalence before and after PCV7 introduction to estimate changes in serotype-specific invasive potential.

Results. We enrolled 1077 subjects from 302 households. There was an absolute reduction in carriage prevalence of 8.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.5%–11.4%) in children aged <5 years and 3.1% (95% CI, 1.1%–5.1%) in adults. In children aged <5 years, vaccine-serotype carriage prevalence decreased by 22.8% (95% CI, 20.1%–25.3%), and nonvaccine serotype (NVT) increased by 15.9% (95% CI, 12.4%–19.3%). No significant change was detected in serotype-specific invasive potential after PCV7 introduction.

Conclusions. Pneumococcal carriage prevalence decreased in all ages since PCV7 introduction; vaccine-serotype carriage has been nearly eliminated, whereas the prevalence of NVT carriage has increased. The increase in the NVT invasive disease rate seems to be proportional to the increase in colonization prevalence.

The Lancet Infectious Disease
Jan 2012  Volume 12  Number 1  p1 – 88
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/issue/current

Editorial
Investing wisely in HIV/AIDS
The Lancet Infectious Diseases

Preview
Ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec 1, 2011, WHO, UNICEF, and UNAIDS launched the Global HIV/AIDS Response 2011 progress report on Nov 30. The report is the fifth such annual report published since 2006. As John Zarocostas reports in this month’s Newsdesk, the latest edition contains much good news on treatment and prevention, but the gains made by past efforts are jeapardised by the ongoing global financial crisis and dwindling funds.

The Lancet Infectious Disease
Jan 2012  Volume 12  Number 1  p1 – 88
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/issue/current

Editorial
Estimating the effect of influenza vaccines
Heath Kelly, Marta Valenciano

Preview
In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Michael Osterholm and colleagues report a meta-analysis1 on the efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccines licensed in the USA. Although not confined to country of licensure, similar analyses have been published by the Cochrane collaboration.2 However, this new study1 differs in several ways from the Cochrane analyses.

The Lancet Infectious Disease
Jan 2012  Volume 12  Number 1  p1 – 88
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/issue/current

Comment
Mass gatherings medicine
Ziad A Memish, Gwen Stephens, Adullah Al Rabeeah

Preview
Between the eighth and 12th days of Dhu al-Hajjah, the 12th month of the Islamic calendar, Saudi Arabia welcomed 3 million people to Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage. As Hajj ended in mid-November, the country had many reasons to be grateful. Risk of injury and death during the pilgrimage has fallen since 2007, with redesigned venues and modern crowd-control strategies. Medical treatment for injuries, infections, and various chronic diseases will have been provided to thousands. Despite intense crowding and the diversity of ethnic groups and nationalities in attendance, around 2 million visitors from more than 183 countries will return home, having participated in this singularly rigorous and peaceful event.

Series
Emergence of medicine for mass gatherings: lessons from the Hajj
Ziad A Memish, Gwen M Stephens, Robert Steffen, Qanta A Ahmed

Summary
Although definitions of mass gatherings (MG) vary greatly, they consist of large numbers of people attending an event at a specific site for a finite time. Examples of MGs include World Youth Day, the summer and winter Olympics, rock concerts, and political rallies. Some of the largest MGs are spiritual in nature. Among all MGs, the public health issues, associated with the Hajj (an annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia) is clearly the best reported—probably because of its international or even intercontinental implications in terms of the spread of infectious disease. Hajj routinely attracts 2·5 million Muslims for worship. WHO’s global health initiatives have converged with Saudi Arabia’s efforts to ensure the wellbeing of pilgrims, contain infectious diseases, and reinforce global health security through the management of the Hajj. Both initiatives emphasise the importance of MG health policies guided by sound evidence and based on experience and the timeliness of calls for a new academic science-based specialty of MG medicine.

Global perspectives for prevention of infectious diseases associated with mass gatherings
Ibrahim Abubakar, Philippe Gautret, Gary W Brunette, Lucille Blumberg, David Johnson, Gilles Poumerol, Ziad A Memish, Maurizio Barbeschi, Ali S Khan

Summary
We assess risks of communicable diseases that are associated with mass gatherings (MGs), outline approaches to risk assessment and mitigation, and draw attention to some key challenges encountered by organisers and participants. Crowding and lack of sanitation at MGs can lead to the emergence of infectious diseases, and rapid population movement can spread them across the world. Many infections pose huge challenges to planners of MGs; however, these events also provide an opportunity to engage in public health action that will benefit host communities and the countries from which participants originate.

Nature  
Volume 480 Number 7378 pp413-578  22 December 2011
http://www.nature.com/nature/current_issue.html

Reviews
Cancer immunotherapy comes of age
Ira Mellman, George Coukos & Glenn Dranoff

Activating the immune system for therapeutic benefit in cancer has long been a goal in immunology and oncology. After decades of disappointment, the tide has finally changed due to the success of recent proof-of-concept clinical trials. Most notable has been the ability of the anti-CTLA4 antibody, ipilimumab, to achieve a significant increase in survival for patients with metastatic melanoma, for which conventional therapies have failed. In the context of advances in the understanding of how tolerance, immunity and immunosuppression regulate antitumour immune responses together with the advent of targeted therapies, these successes suggest that active immunotherapy represents a path to obtain a durable and long-lasting response in cancer patients.

Nature Reviews Immunology
January 2012 Vol 12 No 1
http://www.nature.com/nri/journal/v11/n12/index.html

Science and society
Vaccines targeting drugs of abuse: is the glass half-empty or half-full?
Kim D. Janda & Jennifer B. Treweek
p67 | doi:10.1038/nri3130

The advent of vaccines targeting drugs of abuse heralded a fundamentally different approach to treating substance-related disorders. In contrast to traditional pharmacotherapies for drug abuse, vaccines act by sequestering circulating drugs and terminating the drug-induced ‘high’ without inducing unwanted neuromodulatory effects. Drug-targeting vaccines have entered clinical evaluation, and although these vaccines show promise from a biomedical viewpoint, the ethical and socioeconomic implications of vaccinating patients against drugs of abuse merit discussion within the scientific community.

New England Journal of Medicine
http://content.nejm.org/current.shtml
December 22, 2011  Vol. 365 No. 25

Perspective
Global Health: Facing a “Slow-Motion Disaster” — The UN Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases
L. Rosenbaum and D. Lamas

New England Journal of Medicine
http://content.nejm.org/current.shtml
December 22, 2011  Vol. 365 No. 25

Global Health: Stemming the Brain Drain — A WHO Global Code of Practice on International Recruitment of Health Personnel
A.L. Taylor, L. Hwenda, B.-I. Larsen, and N. Daulaire

Pediatrics
January 2012, VOLUME 129 / ISSUE 1
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/current.shtml

Pediatrics Perspective
Overview of the Global Health Issues Facing Children
Sergio Augusto Cabral, Anna Tereza Soares de Moura, and Jay E. Berkelhamer
Pediatrics 2012; 129:1-3

Abstract
This first Pediatrics Perspectives column on global health joins the monthly rotation with other columns on medical history, graduate medical education, and medical student education. It makes good sense to add global health to the rotation. After all, the future of our world depends on the health and well-being of all its children. Medical history will be determined by the global health issues facing children today, and surely our education programs must broaden their content to include worldwide issues to meet the demands of future pediatric practice. It has been said by many pediatricians that any disease found on this planet is no farther than a plane ride from your local hospital. Clearly, the world is a very small place for all its inhabitants, and every day, travel continues to bring us closer. Global Health Perspectives will bring issues to the readership that will stimulate our thinking about strategies and initiatives to improve child health in the broadest context. For our initial column, Drs Cabral and Soares de Moura have traced the recent history of global child health, sharing perspectives that should cause each of us to think about the future of humankind.

PLoS One
[Accessed 1 January 2012]
http://www.plosone.org/article/browse.action;jsessionid=577FD8B9E1F322DAA533C413369CD6F3.ambra01?field=date

Controlling the Spread of Disease in Schools
Benjamin J. Ridenhour, Alexis Braun, Thomas Teyrasse, David Goldsman
PLoS ONE: Research Article, published 29 Dec 2011 10.1371/journal.pone.0029640

Abstract 
Pandemic and seasonal infectious diseases such as influenza may have serious negative health and economic consequences. Certain non-pharmaceutical intervention strategies – including school closures – can be implemented rapidly as a first line of defense against spread. Such interventions attempt to reduce the effective number of contacts between individuals within a community; yet the efficacy of closing schools to reduce disease transmission is unclear, and closures certainly result in significant economic impacts for caregivers who must stay at home to care for their children. Using individual-based computer simulation models to trace contacts among schoolchildren within a stereotypical school setting, we show how alternative school-based disease interventions have great potential to be as effective as traditional school closures without the corresponding loss of workforce and economic impacts.

PLoS One
[Accessed 1 January 2012]
http://www.plosone.org/article/browse.action;jsessionid=577FD8B9E1F322DAA533C413369CD6F3.ambra01?field=date

Attitudes toward and Uptake of H1N1 Vaccine among Health Care Workers during the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic
Joan M. Henriksen Hellyer, Aaron S. DeVries, Sarah M. Jenkins, Kandace A. Lackore, Katherine M. James, Jeanette Y. Ziegenfuss, Gregory A. Poland, Jon C. Tilburt
PLoS ONE: Research Article, published 22 Dec 2011 10.1371/journal.pone.0029478

Abstract 
Background
Though recommended by many and mandated by some, influenza vaccination rates among health care workers, even in pandemics, remain below optimal levels. The objective of this study was to assess vaccination uptake, attitudes, and distinguishing characteristics (including doctor-nurse differences) of health care workers who did and did not receive the pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine in late 2009.

Methodology/Principal Findings
In early 2010 we mailed a self-administered survey to 800 physicians and 800 nurses currently licensed and practicing in Minnesota. 1,073 individuals responded (cooperation rate: 69%). 85% and 62% of Minnesota physicians and nurses, respectively, reported being vaccinated. Accurately estimating the risk of vaccine side effects (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.5–2.7), agreeing with a professional obligation to be vaccinated (OR 10.1; 95% CI 7.1–14.2), an ethical obligation to follow public health authorities’ recommendations (OR 9.9; 95% CI 6.6–14.9), and laws mandating pandemic vaccination (OR 3.1; 95% CI 2.3–4.1) were all independently associated with receiving the H1N1 influenza vaccine.

Conclusions/Significance
While a majority of health care workers in one midwestern state reported receiving the pandemic H1N1 vaccine, physicians and nurses differed significantly in vaccination uptake. Several key attitudes and perceptions may influence health care workers’ decisions regarding vaccination. These data inform how states might optimally enlist health care workers’ support in achieving vaccination goals during a pandemic.

PLoS One
[Accessed 1 January 2012]
http://www.plosone.org/article/browse.action;jsessionid=577FD8B9E1F322DAA533C413369CD6F3.ambra01?field=date

Community-Based Values for 2009 Pandemic Influenza A H1N1 Illnesses and Vaccination-Related Adverse Events
Tara A. Lavelle, Martin I. Meltzer, Achamyeleh Gebremariam, Kara Lamarand, Anthony E. Fiore, Lisa A. Prosser
PLoS ONE: Research Article, published 19 Dec 2011 10.1371/journal.pone.0027777

Abstract 
Objective
To evaluate community-based values for avoiding pandemic influenza (A) H1N1 (pH1N1) illness and vaccination-related adverse events in adults and children.

Methods
Adult community members were randomly selected from a nationally representative research panel to complete an internet survey (response rate = 65%; n = 718). Respondents answered a series of time trade-off questions to value four hypothetical health state scenarios for varying ages (1, 8, 35, or 70 years): uncomplicated pH1N1 illness, pH1N1 illness-related hospitalization, severe allergic reaction to the pH1N1 vaccine, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. We calculated descriptive statistics for time trade-off amounts and derived quality adjusted life year losses for these events. Multivariate regression analyses evaluated the effect of scenario age, as well as respondent socio-demographic and health characteristics on time trade-off amounts.

Results
Respondents were willing to trade more time to avoid the more severe outcomes, hospitalization and Guillain-Barré syndrome. In our adjusted and unadjusted analyses, age of the patient in the scenario was significantly associated with time trade-off amounts (p-value<0.05), with respondents willing to trade more time to prevent outcomes in children versus adults. Persons who had received the pH1N1 vaccination were willing to trade significantly more time to avoid hospitalization, severe allergic reaction, and Guillain-Barré syndrome, controlling for other variables in adjusted analyses.(p-value<0.05)

Conclusions
Community members placed the highest value on preventing outcomes in children, compared with adults, and the time trade-off values reported were consistent with the severity of the outcomes presented. Considering these public values along with other decision-making factors may help policy makers improve the allocation of pandemic vaccine resources.

Science        
23 December 2011 vol 334, issue 6063, pages 1593-1752
http://www.sciencemag.org/current.dtl

News
Breakthrough of the Year
HIV Treatment as Prevention
Jon Cohen

HIV/AIDS researchers have long debated whether antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) used to treat HIV-infected people might have a double benefit and cut transmission rates. To some it was obvious: ARVs reduce HIV levels, so individuals should be less infectious. Skeptics contended that this was unproven. Then in May of this year, the 052 clinical trial conducted by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) reported that ARVs reduced the risk of heterosexual transmission by 96%. Because of HPTN 052’s profound implications for the future response to the AIDS epidemic, Science has chosen it as its Breakthrough of the Year.

Science Translational Medicine
21 December 2011 vol 3, issue 114
http://stm.scienceag.org/content/mcurrent

Research Articles
COMPUTATIONAL PHARMACOLOGY
Predicting Adverse Drug Events Using Pharmacological Network Models
Aurel Cami, Alana Arnold, Shannon Manzi, and Ben Reis
21 December 2011: 114ra127

Abstract
Early and accurate identification of adverse drug events (ADEs) is critically important for public health. We have developed a novel approach for predicting ADEs, called predictive pharmacosafety networks (PPNs). PPNs integrate the network structure formed by known drug-ADE relationships with information on specific drugs and adverse events to predict likely unknown ADEs. Rather than waiting for sufficient post-market evidence to accumulate for a given ADE, this predictive approach relies on leveraging existing, contextual drug safety information, thereby having the potential to identify certain ADEs earlier. We constructed a network representation of drug-ADE associations for 809 drugs and 852 ADEs on the basis of a snapshot of a widely used drug safety database from 2005 and supplemented these data with additional pharmacological information. We trained a logistic regression model to predict unknown drug-ADE associations that were not listed in the 2005 snapshot. We evaluated the model’s performance by comparing these predictions with the new drug-ADE associations that appeared in a 2010 snapshot of the same drug safety database. The proposed model achieved an AUROC (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) statistic of 0.87, with a sensitivity of 0.42 given a specificity of 0.95. These findings suggest that predictive network methods can be useful for predicting unknown ADEs.

Tropical Medicine & International Health
January 2012  Volume 17, Issue 1  Pages 1–141
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-3156/currentissue

Inclusive health
Malcolm MacLachlan, Chapal Khasnabis and Hasheem Mannan
Article first published online: 7 SEP 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3156.2011.02876.x
[Free full text]

Abstract
We propose the concept of Inclusive Health to encapsulate the Health for All ethos; to build on the rights-based approach to health; to promote the idea of inclusion as a verb, where a more proactive approach to addressing distinctive and different barriers to inclusion is needed; and to recognise that new initiatives in human resources for health can offer exciting and innovative ways of healthcare delivery. While Inclusive Education has become a widely recognised and accepted concept, Health for All is still contested, and new thinking is required to develop its agenda in line with contemporary developments. Inclusive Health refers both to who gets health care and to who provides it; and its ethos resonates strongly with Jefferson’s assertion that ‘there is nothing more unequal, than the equal treatment of unequal people’. We situate the timeliness of the Inclusive Health concept with reference to recent developments in the recognition of the rights of people with disability, in the new guidelines for community-based rehabilitation and in the World Report on Disability. These developments offer a more inclusive approach to health and, more broadly, its inter-connected aspects of wellbeing. A concept which more proactively integrates United Nations conventions that recognise the importance of difference – disability, ethnicity, gender, children – could be of benefit for global healthcare policy and practice.

Vaccine
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X
Volume 30, Issue 3 pp. 499-684 (11 January 2012)

Review
Devices for intradermal vaccination
Pages 523-538
Elsa E. Kis, Gerhard Winter, Julia Myschik

Abstract
New insights in vaccine development, the need for safe, economic and efficient vaccine administration and the increasing mechanistic knowledge of immune responses induced by targeting the intradermal layers of the skin have all driven the engineering of devices for intradermal vaccination. In this review we highlight different delivery devices that make the epidermal and dermal layers of the skin accessible for vaccine administration. Depending on the device the desired vaccine can be applied either as a liquid formulation or as solid, powdered vaccine particles. The process of intradermal injection employs micron-sized needles that are inserted 1.5 mm perpendicularly into the skin, and which inject approximately 100–200 μl of a liquid vaccine formulation into the dermal skin layers. Tattoo devices, on the other hand, can be used to deliver liquid vaccine formulations into the dermal layer of the skin by the use of oscillating needles. Microneedle arrays are made of vaccine-coated solid microneedles or biodegradable microneedles. These are inserted into the dermal layers of the skin where either the vaccine coating is dissolved, or the microneedle itself dissolves in place. Jet-injectors operate by generating a high pressured stream, which flushes the liquid vaccine formulation into the deeper skin layers. Delivery devices using liquid vaccine formulations are advantageous, as established vaccine formulations can be used as provided without the need for reformulation. However, approaches that deliver vaccines in a solid form may also prove to be promising. One such method is the ballistic approach, in which solid vaccine particles or vaccine-coated gold particles are accelerated towards the skin by needle-free devices, so that the particles are deposited in the epidermal and dermal layers of the skin. These various delivery devices are explored in this review with regard to their delivery mechanism and ease of handling, their efficacy in clinical trials and their suitability for practical use.

Vaccine
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X
Volume 30, Issue 3 pp. 499-684 (11 January 2012)

Regular Papers
Effectiveness of rotavirus vaccines in preventing cases and hospitalizations due to rotavirus gastroenteritis in Navarre, Spain
Pages 539-543
Jesús Castilla, Xabier Beristain, Víctor Martínez-Artola, Ana Navascués, Manuel García Cenoz, Nerea Álvarez, Isabel Polo, Ana Mazón, Alberto Gil-Setas, Aurelio Barricarte

Abstract
Two rotavirus vaccines have been available since 2006. This study evaluates the effectiveness of these vaccines using a test-negative case–control design in Navarre, Spain. We included children 3–59 months of age who sought medical care for gastroenteritis and for whom stool samples were taken between January 2008 and June 2011. About 9% had received the pentavalent vaccine (RotaTeq) and another 8% received the monovalent vaccine (Rotarix). Cases were the 756 children with confirmed rotavirus and controls were the 6036 children who tested negative for rotavirus. Thirty-five percent of cases and 9% of controls had required hospitalization (p < 0.0001). The adjusted effectiveness of complete vaccination was 78% (95% CI: 68–85%) in preventing rotavirus gastroenteritis and 83% (95% CI: 65–93%) in preventing hospitalization for rotavirus gastroenteritis. No differences between the two vaccines were detected (p = 0.4523). Both vaccines were highly effective in preventing cases and hospital admissions in children due to rotavirus gastroenteritis.

Vaccine
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X
Volume 30, Issue 3 pp. 499-684 (11 January 2012)

Regular Papers

Cost-effectiveness of vaccination against herpes zoster in adults aged over 60 years in Belgium
Pages 675-684
Joke Bilcke, Christiaan Marais, Benson Ogunjimi, Lander Willem, Niel Hens, Philippe Beutels

Abstract
Aim
To assess the cost-effectiveness of vaccinating all or subgroups of adults aged 60 to 85 years against herpes zoster.

Methods
A deterministic compartmental static model was developed (in freeware R), in which cohorts can acquire herpes zoster according to their age in years. Surveys and database analyses were conducted to obtain as much as possible Belgian age-specific estimates for input parameters. Direct costs and Quality-Adjusted Life-Year (QALY) losses were estimated as a function of standardised Severity Of Illness (SOI) scores (i.e. as a function of the duration and severity of herpes zoster disease).

Results
Uncertainty about the average SOI score for a person with herpes zoster, the duration of protection from the vaccine, and the population that can benefit from the vaccine, exerts a major impact on the results: under assumptions least in favour of vaccination, vaccination is not cost-effective (i.e. incremental cost per QALY gained >€48,000 for all ages considered) at the expected vaccine price of €90 per dose. At the same price, but under assumptions most in favour of vaccination, vaccination is found to be cost-effective (i.e. incremental cost per QALY gained <€5500 for all ages considered). Vaccination of age cohort 60 seems more cost-effective than vaccination of any older age cohort in Belgium.

Discussion
If the vaccine price per dose drops to €45, HZ vaccination of adults aged 60–64 years is likely to be cost-effective in Belgium, even under assumptions least in favour of vaccination. Unlike previous studies, our analysis acknowledged major methodological and model uncertainties simultaneously and presented outcomes for 26 different target ages at which vaccination can be considered (ages 60–85).

Vaccine
Volume 30, Issue 2 pp. 103-498 (5 January 2012)

Editorial
The re-emergence of measles in developed countries: Time to develop the next-generation measles vaccines?
Pages 103-104
Gregory A. Poland, Robert M. Jacobson

[No abstract available]

Vaccine
Volume 30, Issue 2 pp. 103-498 (5 January 2012)

Brief Reports
Vaccine shortages and suspect online pharmacy sellers
Pages 105-108
Bryan A. Liang, Tim K. Mackey

Abstract
Vaccines represent half the products on the FDA Biologics Product Shortages list. As a result, providers and patients may purchase them online, a process rife with patient safety risks. We examined vaccine online availability by assessing up to 5 identified online sellers. We determined if sites were accredited by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) VIPPS program, listed as US or international, employed social media linking to suspect online pharmacies, and if they were on the NABP Not Recommended list. All vaccines were advertised by online pharmacies and through data aggregation and social media sites, none were VIPPS-accredited, and most were on the NABP Not Recommended list. We found some online sellers advertising vaccines as over-the-counter. We extended our analysis to WHO Essential Medicines List vaccines and found all are also available online from suspect, non-VIPPS accredited sellers. Stakeholders should be aware of these online patient safety dangers.

Vaccine
Volume 30, Issue 2 pp. 103-498 (5 January 2012)

Reviews
New insights in mucosal vaccine development
Pages 142-154
Vincent Pavot, Nicolas Rochereau, Christian Genin, Bernard Verrier, Stéphane Paul

Abstract
Mucosal surfaces are the major entrance for infectious pathogens and therefore mucosal immune responses serve as a first line of defence. Most current immunization procedures are obtained by parenteral injection and only few vaccines are administered by mucosal route, because of its low efficiency. However, targeting of mucosal compartments to induce protective immunity at both mucosal sites and systemic level represents a great challenge. Major efforts are made to develop new mucosal candidate vaccines by selecting appropriate antigens with high immunogenicity, designing new mucosal routes of administration and selecting immune-stimulatory adjuvant molecules. The aim of mucosal vaccines is to induce broad potent protective immunity by specific neutralizing antibodies at mucosal surfaces and by induction of cellular immunity. Moreover, an efficient mucosal vaccine would make immunization procedures easier and be better suited for mass administration. This review focuses on contemporary developments of mucosal vaccination approaches using different routes of administration.

Vaccine
Volume 30, Issue 2 pp. 103-498 (5 January 2012)

Regular Papers
Improving low coverage of child immunization in rural hard-to-reach areas of Bangladesh: Findings from a project using multiple interventions
Pages 168-179
Md. Jasim Uddin, Nirod Chandra Saha, Ziaul Islam, Iqbal Ansary Khan, Shamsuzzaman, M.A. Quaiyum, Tracey Perez Koehlmoos

Abstract
The study was conducted to assess the impact of combined interventions to improve the child immunization coverage in rural hard-to-reach areas of Bangladesh. The valid coverage increased at endline compared to baseline in the study areas, and the difference of the increase was highly significant (p < 0.001). The findings also showed that the number of drop-outs, left-outs, and invalid doses decreased at endline compared to baseline in the study areas, and the difference was also highly significant (p < 0.001). The immunization coverage improved significantly in all the four study sub-districts that received interventions, although the relative contribution of each intervention is unknown. The interventions can be implemented in all other hard-to-reach areas of Bangladesh and other countries which are facing similar challenges.

Vaccine
Volume 30, Issue 2 pp. 103-498 (5 January 2012)

Regular Papers

Birth order and private voluntary immunization—A study of 110,902 children
Pages 442-447
Natalie Gavrielov-Yusim, Erez Battat, Lily Neumann, Michael Friger, Ran D. Balicer

Abstract
Background
Introduction of new private, voluntary immunizations often results in low vaccine uptake among certain sub-groups within the population. Revealing factors associated with underimmunization is crucial in vaccine endorsement and distribution.

Objective
Our goal was to investigate the effect of child’s birth order on private voluntary varicella vaccination.

Methods
A nested case–control study was conducted on a cohort of 110,902 Israeli children under the age of 5 years. We compared social and demographic factors of immunized and unimmunized participants. Logistic regression models were built to examine the association between birth order and vaccination, controlling for child’s age, gender, country of birth, ethnicity, parents’ country of birth, area of residence, and socioeconomic status (SES).

Results
Ethnicity had the highest association with varicella immunization status. The odds of vaccination in the general Jewish and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish populations were 25.55- (95%CI:20.13;32.42) and 15.04- (95%CI:10.18;22.22) times the odds in Arab population, respectively. Child’s birth order was inversely related to vaccination status and presented a nonlinear exposure–response relationship. This relationship was maintained in different ethnicity and SES groups. Child’s birth order was associated with vaccination differently in large (>3 siblings) and small to average-sized sibships (≤3 siblings). Other parameters associated with vaccination were child’s and parents’ country of origin, area of residence and SES.

Conclusions
Birth order is an independent risk factor for underimmunization, associated with child’s vaccination status beyond economic, social, and demographic parental characteristics.

Vaccine
Volume 30, Issue 2 pp. 103-498 (5 January 2012)

Regular Papers

Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about seasonal influenza and H1N1 vaccinations in a low-income,  public health clinic population
Pages 454-458
Matthew D. Redelings, Jennifer Piron, Lisa V. Smith, Amy Chan, Julia Heinzerling, Kathleen M. Sanchez, Dalia Bedair, Mirna Ponce, Tony Kuo

Abstract
Objective
The Public Health Center Vaccine Survey (PHCVS) examines the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about seasonal influenza and H1N1 vaccinations in a largely low-income, urban, public health clinic population in Los Angeles County, USA.

Design
A cross-sectional survey of vulnerable individuals at risk for severe influenza infection was conducted in one of the nation’s largest local public health jurisdictions.

Subjects
A total of 1541 clinic patients were recruited in the waiting rooms of five large public health centers in Los Angeles County from June to August, 2010.

Results
Among prospective respondents who met eligibility criteria, 92% completed the survey. The majority was black or Latino and most were between the ages of 18 and 44 years. More than half were unemployed; two-thirds had no health insurance; and nearly one-half reported having a high school education or less. About one-fifth reported they had received the H1N1 vaccine during the previous flu season. In comparative analyses, negative beliefs about vaccine safety and efficacy were highly predictive of H1N1 vaccination. Blacks were less likely than non-black respondents to report receiving the H1N1 vaccine (OR = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.6–1.0). Blacks were also less likely than other respondents to agree that vaccines can prevent disease (OR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.3–0.5), that vaccines are safe (OR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.4–0.6), and that they trust doctors/clinicians who recommend vaccines (OR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.4–0.7).

Conclusions
Study findings provide a useful risk profile of vulnerable groups in Los Angeles County, which may be generalizable to other urban jurisdictions in the United States. They also describe real world situations that can be used to forecast potential challenges that vaccine beliefs may pose to national as well as local influenza pandemic planning and response, especially for communities with limited access to these preventive services

Vaccine
Articles in Press
Evidence-based decision making for vaccines: The need for an ethical foundation
In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 21 December 2011
Robert I. Field, Arthur L. Caplan

Abstract
Evidence-based decision making (EBDM) is a tool to assess the value of medical interventions by weighing costs and health outcomes that has increasingly been applied to vaccines. However, many of the ethical considerations that support EBDM when used to evaluate therapeutic care do not readily translate to prevention. This mismatch can result in policy decisions that produce unanticipated negative consequences, including public resistance. In its emphasis on quantifiable outcomes, EBDM invokes the ethical principle of rule-utilitarianism, which values the optimal long-run balance of benefit over harm. Vaccines raise a number of competing ethical concerns in ways that individual medical treatments do not. They rely on widespread compliance for effectiveness, which can limit individual autonomy, emphasize population over individual effects, which can obscure the imperative of beneficence to help the vulnerable, require a just allocation process within populations, and sometimes challenge strong social norms. For EBDM to effectively guide vaccine policy makers, such as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in the United States, an ethical foundation is needed that systematically considers all relevant values and transparently places vaccination recommendations in the context of social norms and individual concern

The pdf version of Vaccines: The Week in Review  19 December 2011, comprising the posts for this date below, is available here: Vaccines_The Week in Review_19 December 2011

OMICS – Special Issue: Vaccines of the 21st Century: Vaccinomics for Global Public Health
Guest Editor: Vural Ozdemir, M.D., Ph.D., DABCP
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology
Volume 15, Number 9 http://www.liebertonline.com/toc/omi/15/9
[Free full text]

Editorial
Vaccines of the 21st Century and Vaccinomics: Data-Enabled Science Meets Global Health to Spark Collective Action for Vaccine Innovation
Vural Ozdemir, Tikki Pang, Bartha M. Knoppers, Denise Avard, Samer A. Faraj, Ma’n H. Zawati, Eugene Kolker
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. September 2011, 15(9): 523-527.
Full Text PDF or HTML

Opinion
Systems Vaccinomics: The Road Ahead for Vaccinology
Alan Bernstein, Bali Pulendran, Rino Rappuoli
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. September 2011, 15(9): 529-531.
Full Text PDF or HTML

Mini-Reviews
The Top Five “Game Changers” in Vaccinology: Toward Rational and Directed Vaccine Development
Richard B. Kennedy, Gregory A. Poland
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. September 2011, 15(9): 533-537.
Abstract | Full Text PDF or HTML

Twenty-First Century Vaccinomics Innovation Systems: Capacity Building in the Global South and the Role of Product Development Partnerships (PDPs)
Farah Huzair, Alexander Borda-Rodriguez, Mary Upton
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. September 2011, 15(9): 539-543.
Abstract | Full Text PDF or HTML

Review Articles
Designing the Next Generation of Vaccines for Global Public Health
Fabio Bagnoli, Barbara Baudner, Ravi P.N. Mishra, Erika Bartolini, Luigi Fiaschi, Paolo Mariotti, Vincenzo Nardi-Dei, Phil Boucher, Rino Rappuoli
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. September 2011, 15(9): 545-566.
Abstract | Full Text PDF or HTML

Publics and Vaccinomics: Beyond Public Understanding of Science
Edna F. Einsiedel
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. September 2011, 15(9): 607-614.
Abstract | Full Text PDF or HTML

Vaccinomics and a New Paradigm for the Development of Preventive Vaccines Against Viral Infections
Gregory A. Poland, Inna G. Ovsyannikova, Richard B. Kennedy, Iana H. Haralambieva, Robert M. Jacobson
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. September 2011, 15(9): 625-636.
Abstract | Full Text PDF or HTML

Steering Vaccinomics Innovations with Anticipatory Governance and Participatory Foresight
Vural Ozdemir, Samer A. Faraj, Bartha M. Knoppers
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. September 2011, 15(9): 637-646.
Abstract | Full Text PDF or HTML

UNICEF announced that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contributed US$1,588,000 to UNICEF Niger to support polio eradication. The funds will purchase Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) and will allow the Government of Niger and its partners to immunize up to 3.77 million children in 2011. Guido Cornale, UNICEF Representative in Niger, said, “The generous funding of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be instrumental to ensure a steady supply of OPV for immunization campaigns in Niger. This will allow the Government of Niger, with the support of the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other partners, to reinforce immunization activities at a particularly critical time.” Niger is described as one of the countries in the ‘wild poliovirus importation belt’ – a band of countries stretching from West Africa to Central Africa and the Horn of Africa that are recurrently re-infected with polio virus. It is therefore critical that nationwide synchronized vaccination campaigns are conducted in these countries in order to rapidly control outbreaks. UNICEF noted that the grant of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Niger is part of a total contribution of US$10 million to UNICEF to purchase OPV for seven countries in 2011 – Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – to support the immunization of up to 33 million under-5 children across the Middle East, the Horn of Africa and West Africa.

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_61021.html

      A public-private partnership involving the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. dedicated the first U.S. facility to use cell-based approaches for making influenza vaccine. The new facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina will operate in partnership which “will be maintained under contract for at least 25 years.” Robin Robinson, Ph.D., director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), said, “Today we’re marking the first change in influenza vaccine manufacturing in the United States in 50 years. The pandemic readiness of this facility is a major milestone in national preparedness for pandemic influenza and other diseases.” In an influenza pandemic, the new Novartis facility “may be able to produce 25 percent of the vaccine needed in the United States. In addition, cell-based technology used in this facility for manufacturing seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines may be adapted to produce vaccines for other known and unknown emerging infectious diseases in an emergency.”

In addition, HHS and Novartis “are partnering with Synthetic Genomics Vaccines of Rockville, Maryland on new technologies to shorten the vaccine manufacturing timeline by optimizing vaccine virus seed strains used for flu vaccine production.” BARDA and Novartis also are working with North Carolina State University “to train scientists from other countries to use cell culture based manufacturing techniques similar to what is used in the new facility. The training program is part of a WHO initiative to strengthen the ability of developing countries to produce flu vaccine, potentially reducing the global threat from influenza.”

http://www.hhs.gov/news

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111212006372/en/First%C2%A0U.S.-cell-based-flu-vaccine-plant-set-dedication

Pfizer said it entered into a second AMC-based supply agreement for its pneumococcal vaccine which “will broaden and extend the duration of the Company’s commitment to help protect millions of infants and young children in the developing world from pneumococcal disease…” Pfizer is now committed to supply up to a total of 480 million doses of Prevenar 13* (Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine [13-valent, adsorbed]) through 2023, “building on its original commitment announced in March 2010 to supply up to 300 million doses of the vaccine under the auspices of the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) for pneumococcal vaccines.” Mark Swindell, president of Vaccines for Pfizer, said, “Pfizer is proud to broaden and extend access to our vaccine to advance public health. Public-private partnership programs like the AMC are vital to accelerating the availability of affordable vaccines, faster than ever before, to those children who are most vulnerable. We are proud to help protect even more children at risk for the potentially devastating consequences of pneumococcal disease – which claims more young children’s lives than any other vaccine-preventable disease.”

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111216005279/en/Pfizer-Broadens-Extends-Commitment-Prevent-Pneumococcal-Disease

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) reported “promising results in mice on a needle-free candidate universal vaccine against seasonal and pandemic influenza.” IVI scientists “have discovered that an antigen common to most influenza viruses, and commonly referred to as matrix protein 2 (M2), when administered under the tongue could protect mice against experimental infection caused by various influenza viruses, including the highly pathogenic avian H5 virus and the pandemic H1 (“swine flu”) virus.” The study was led by IVI scientist Dr. Man-ki Song and Dr. Haryoung Poo from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), and supported by the National Agenda Project of the Korea Research Council of Fundamental Science and Technology. Dr Christian Loucq, IVI Director-General, said, “Since pandemic influenza remains a global threat and would most likely start in the Asia-Pacific region, this study underscores IVI and the Republic of Korea’s commitments to join global efforts to build preparedness for and response to pandemic influenza.”

PLoS ONE article: Sublingual Immunization with M2-Based Vaccine Induces Broad Protective Immunity against Influenza:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0027953

http://www.ivi.org/

    The Global Fund posted details of its new “Transitional Funding Mechanism” to replace its Round 11 grant cycle. The Global Fund noted that “In order to protect the gains achieved and ensure that essential programs are maintained, the Global Fund Board has decided to take immediate and exceptional action by establishing a Transitional Funding Mechanism and revising the application and approval process for renewals.” [Decision Point – GF/B25/DP16] Forms and additional information available here: http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/application/

WHO released the World Malaria Report 2011 which “summarizes information received from 106 malaria-endemic countries and a range of other sources. It analyses prevention and control measures according to a comprehensive set of indicators, and highlights continued progress towards global malaria targets. This year’s report builds primarily on data received from countries for the year 2010. The report shows clear progress in the fight against malaria and a decline in estimated malaria cases and deaths. For the first time, the report contains individual profiles for 99 countries with ongoing malaria transmission.”

http://www.who.int/malaria/world_malaria_report_2011/en/index.html

PATH and OneWorld Health (OWH) announced that OWH will become an affiliate of PATH, “bringing its drug development expertise and experience in neglected infectious diseases to bear on PATH’s mission of improving global health through innovation.” Dr. Christopher J. Elias, president and CEO of PATH, said, “PATH is excited to welcome OneWorld Health into our organizational family. OneWorld Health has a successful track record in developing and delivering effective, affordable drugs to protect some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Their work complements PATH’s broad portfolio of projects focused on delivering high-impact, low-cost solutions to global health problems.” Dr. Richard Chin, CEO of OWH, stated, “We are delighted that two organizations that have a similar deep commitment to people in developing countries will join together. The complementary skills of PATH and OneWorld Health will lead to a fully integrated product development and delivery platform across both drugs and vaccines, improved economies of scale, and most importantly, superior ability to save lives.” OWH, based in San Francisco, “was founded in 2000 and became the first nonprofit pharmaceutical company in the United States. The organization, which also has offices in New Delhi and Patna, India, currently works on drug development projects for diseases that include diarrheal disease, malaria, and visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease spread by sand flies.”

http://www.path.org/news/pr111216-owh.php

Twitter Watch
A selection of items of interest from a variety of twitter feeds associated with immunization, vaccines and global public health. This capture is highly selective and by no means intended to be exhaustive.

PIH Partners In Health
Paul Farmer of @PIH talks to @abcnews about saving the lives of women & babies in developing countries ow.ly/81Z3f #amillionmoms
16 Dec

unfoundation UN Foundation
RIP #ChristoperHitchens. Read his moving piece on #polio in @VanityFair from 2002: ow.ly/824fC
16 Dec

unfoundation UN Foundation
Saudi Arabia is providing critical support for #polio eradication in Niger. Read more from @UNICEFpolio: ow.ly/81Tiy #vaccines
16 Dec

GAVIAlliance GAVI Alliance
#Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhoea and diarrhoeal deaths in children worldwide- ht.ly/80OXe @MedicinesDev
15 Dec

Eurovaccine ECDC Eurovaccine
#Measles disproportionately affects marginalized population such as the #Roma; see #ECDC monthly #measles monitoring bit.ly/vPD11K
15 Dec

PreventTyphoid CaT
Wonderful essay by immunization champion Bill Foege: globalhealthmagazine.com/top_stories/wh… fb.me/SR1Kfy7q
14 Dec

preventdengue DVI
@OrinLevine & @sabinvaccine Ciro de Quadros (presidents of 2 DVI orgs) discuss the reemergence of #dengue in the US bit.ly/ug13uW

Health and Human Rights
Vol 13, No 2 (2011)
http://hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr

Editor’s Note
Paul E. Farmer

A year ago, our departing editorial team wrote that its hope for Health and Human Rights: An International Journal was that it would “increasingly provide a space that bridges the evident gaps that continue to exist between communities of scholars and activists from social medicine, social epidemiology, and human rights [law].” We have taken our colleagues’ wisdom to heart and spent much time this year working to realize this mission. As our former publisher Dr. Jim Yong Kim stated when HHR became an open access publication, the journal aims to achieve “a structural change in how, where, and by whom knowledge about health action and human rights is produced and used.”  For this reason, we remain committed to making sure our publication is available to as wide a readership as possible. At the beginning of 2012, we will introduce a rolling publication system to allow readers to view papers online as soon as they have been finalized following peer review. We hope this will enable academics and teachers and others to read, cite, and use research and commentary in their work more quickly than previously possible.

To engage scholars, practitioners, students, and activists in the health and human rights movement, we have also expanded the journal’s use of social media. We encourage readers to become writers by contributing to our blog (http://www.hhropenforum.org); we also invite you to follow the journal on Twitter (@healthhumrights).

The potential of rights-based approaches in global health work is of mounting interest within academic communities, as evidenced by the increasing number of universities offering courses in this area. Scientific and biomedical journals are also publishing articles on health and human rights with greater frequency. In their literature review published in this issue, Mpinga et al report a threefold increase in the number of papers addressing health and human rights in the decade ending in 2008. The most frequently explored topics include health systems in resource-poor settings, mental health, HIV/AIDS, and reproductive health.

This issue of Health and Human Rights reports on diverse rights violations and injustices among marginalized populations around the globe—from prisoner-patients to labor migrants to those without potable water…

…The right to health should serve as a guiding principle for health care practitioners and policy makers and all those who seek to redress social inequities around the globe. It is not the only framework out there, true, but it serves as a bulwark against the mistreatment and abuse that remains, today, far too prevalent.