OBJECTIVE To describe measles vaccination patterns in a cohort of Swiss children aged up to 3 years insured with a single health insurer. METHODS A dynamic cohort study evaluating measles immunizations patterns in children born between 2006 and 2008 was conducted. Time-to-event analysis was used to describe timing of measles immunization. Effective vaccine coverage was calculated by using an ...

BACKGROUND Increasingly, countries have introduced female vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV), causally linked to several cancers and genital warts, but few have recommended vaccination of boys. Declining vaccine prices and strong evidence of vaccine impact on reducing HPV-related conditions in both women and men prompt countries to reevaluate whether HPV vaccination of boys is warra...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES India has the highest under-five death toll globally, approximately 20% of which is attributed to vaccine-preventable diseases. India's Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is working both to increase immunization coverage and to introduce new vaccines. Here, we analyze the disease and financial burden alleviated across India's population (by wealth quintile, rural o...

BACKGROUND In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration licensed a vaccine for the human papillomavirus (HPV) that prevents the strains of HPV that cause 70% of cervical cancers. Within months, many states introduced legislation requiring the vaccine for girls, prompting controversy and heightened political and media attention to the issue. Previous research has shown differences in HPV vacci...

BACKGROUND Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) is recommended for all adults 65 years of age and older and for younger adults with high-risk conditions. While data from national surveys provide information on the proportion of adults 65 years of age and older reporting ever receipt of PPV they do not collect more detailed information, such as age at vaccination or the total number of vacc...

BACKGROUND Due to intensified measles immunization efforts, measles mortality has decreased substantially worldwide, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated a 92% decrease in measles-related deaths in the WHO AFRO region for the period 2000-2008. Recently, the AFRO region established a measles pre-elimination goal and experts have suggested engagi...

Background. The coverage rate for rotavirus vaccine (RV) in the U.S., as assessed at 19 to 35 months of age, is lower than that for other vaccines, such as pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP). RV differs from these other vaccines, however, in that administration at or beyond 8 months of age is not recommended. It is important to d...

More than two billion people have been infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), 360 million have chronic infection and 600,000 die each year from HBV-related liver disease or hepatocellular carcinoma. Each year more than 66,000 health professionals are infected by hepatitis b virus and vaccination against hepatitis B saves the life's of these health professionals. The aim of this study was to det...

BACKGROUND A significant part of childhood mortality can be prevented given the existence of a well functioning health care system that can deliver vaccines to children during their first year of life. This study assesses immunization differentials between regions in Malawi, and attempts to relate regional disparities in immunization to factors on individual, household and village level. METH...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an important aetiology of acute encephalitis syndrome in Gorakhpur division, Uttar Pradesh, India. Two doses of JE vaccine ( first during 9-12 months and second during 16-24 months of age) are administered under the Universal Immunization Programme. We conducted surveys to estimate the coverage of JE vaccine and magnitude of missed opportuni...