BACKGROUND Pneumonia is a main cause of under-five mortality in low-income settings. The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) has been introduced in many countries as a tool in the disease's prevention. Although PCV's effectiveness has been established, less is known about the effects of introducing additional injectable vaccines into routine immunisation programmes, particularly in the context...

Immunisation is amongst the most costeffective public health interventions for reducing global child morbidity and mortality [1,2]. The global effort to use vaccination as a public health intervention began when the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in 1974. Over the years there have been several international efforts to increase EPI coverage,...

BACKGROUND Immunisation is a powerful public health strategy for improving child survival, not only by directly combating key diseases that kill children but also by providing a platform for other health services. However, each year millions of children worldwide, mostly from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), do not receive the full series of vaccines on their national routine immunisat...

The English national human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation programme has offered vaccination to girls aged 12 years at the start of each school year since September 2008. A catch-up programme has offered vaccination to girls up to 18 years. Delivery is predominantly school-based, with some general practitioner (GP)-based immunisation. The relationship between HPV immunisation coverage and dep...

OBJECTIVE To compare demographic, social, maternal, and infant related factors associated with partial immunisation and no immunisation in the first year of life in the United Kingdom. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Sample of electoral wards in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, stratified by measures of ethnic composition and social disadvantage. PARTICIPANTS 18,48...

There are few data, especially outside the United States, examining the timeliness of childhood vaccination, although it is of key importance for diseases such as pertussis, and invasive disease due to Haemophilus influenzae type b and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The aim of this study was to use the unique resource of the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) to examine trends in and ...

The aim of the study was to build a comprehensive picture of the appearance in the blood stream of Ag-specific plasma cells and memory B cells in the bovine model. For this purpose, we have developed a method allowing the detection and quantification of both cell types within individual calves immunised with ovalbumin. During the primary response, we detected a burst of ovalbumin-specific plasm...

BACKGROUND Inequalities in vaccine uptake exist. Studies suggest paediatric inpatients have lower rates of immunisation uptake than the general population. Various UK policies advocate opportunistic immunisation. AIM To evaluate practice within a paediatric tertiary hospital in identifying and facilitating vaccination of inpatients who were not fully immunised. METHODS Case notes for 225 in...

BACKGROUND Childhood vaccination has been vigorously debated in recent years. Professional and parental confidence in the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in particular has been shaken, as reflected by its decreased uptake. AIM To investigate the influence of practice type and the method of vaccination call/recall on childhood immunisation coverage. DESIGN Analysis of childhood immu...

Objective To compare rates of local reactions associated with two needle sizes used to administer routine immunisations to infants. Design Randomised controlled trial. Setting Routine immunisation clinics in eight general practices in Buckinghamshire. Participants Healthy infants attending for third primary immunisation due at 16 weeks of age: 119 infants were recruited, and 110 diary cards were