Schools are known to play a significant role in the spread of influenza. High vaccination coverage can reduce infectious disease spread within schools and the wider community through vaccine-induced immunity in vaccinated individuals and through the indirect effects afforded by herd immunity. In general, herd immunity is greatest when vaccination coverage is highest, but clusters of unvaccinate...

Pertussis is a highly infectious respiratory disease that is currently responsible for nearly 300,000 annual deaths worldwide, primarily in infants in developing countries. Despite sustained high vaccine uptake, a resurgence in pertussis incidence has been reported in a number of countries. This resurgence has led to critical questions regarding the transmission impacts of vaccination and pertu...

Parsa Erfani and colleagues argue that a temporary intellectual property waiver for covid-19 vaccines is vital to increase supply, achieve global herd immunity, advance health equity

Acquisition of pneumococci is generally from carriers rather than from infected individuals. Therefore, to induce herd immunity against Streptococcus pneumoniae it will be necessary to elicit protection against carriage. Capsular polysaccharide-protein conjugates, PspA, and PsaA are known to elicit some protection against nasopharyngeal carriage of pneumococci but do not always completely elimi...

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus genotype IVb (VHSV-IVb) is presently found throughout the Laurentian Great Lakes region of North America. We recently developed a DNA vaccine preparation containing the VHSV-IVb glycoprotein (G) gene with a cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter that proved highly efficacious in protecting muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) and three salmonid species. This study was condu...

Seasonal influenza is a significant public health concern globally. While influenza vaccines are the single most effective intervention to reduce influenza morbidity and mortality, there is considerable debate surrounding the merits and consequences of repeated seasonal vaccination. Here, we describe a two-season influenza epidemic contact network model and use it to demonstrate that increasing...

In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need to inoculate as many people possible achieve herd immunity (Mayo Clinic, 2021). Information campaigns have become crucial incr...