Each country and territory using the trivalent oral polio vaccine (that protects against three types of the virus) should switch to the bivalent oral polio vaccine (that protects against two types of the virus) during the last two weeks of April next year, a group of experts has concluded. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization (SAGE), which advises WHO, said that the 149 count...

Vaccine adverse events (VAEs) are adverse bodily changes occurring after vaccination. Understanding the adverse event (AE) profiles is a crucial step to identify serious AEs. Two different types of seasonal influenza vaccines have been used on the market: trivalent (killed) inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) and trivalent live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV). Different adverse event profil...

The purpose of this statement is to update recommendations for routine use of trivalent seasonal influenza vaccine and antiviral medications for the prevention and treatment of influenza in children. The key points for the upcoming 2011-2012 season are that (1) the influenza vaccine composition for the 2011-2012 season is unchanged from the 2010-2011 season, (2) annual universal influenza immun...

Bottom line For healthy adults, the flu shot reduces the influenza rate when the vaccine is well matched (number needed to treat [NNT] of 12 to 37). A poorly matched vaccine has diminished effectiveness. For community-dwelling seniors, the NNT to prevent 1 case of influenza is 40. The flu shot has not been shown to decrease hospitalizations. Evidence that the flu shot decreases mortality is lik...

To the Editor: We report results of the effect of inactivated seasonal influenza vaccination on risk of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in a cohort of nurses in Canada who participated in a recent randomized controlled trial that compared the effectiveness of surgical masks with that of N95 respirators in preventing influenza (1). From September 23, 2008, through December 8, 2008, a total of 446 nurses fr...

In 27 patients randomized to receive commercial trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) containing 15 microg of the hemagglutinin (HA) of influenza A (H3N2 and H1N1) and B virus or a recombinant vaccine (rHAO) containing 15, 45, or 135 microg of each HA, reactogenicity was minor. Among patients with similar prevaccination titers, 40% given 45 microg and 60% given 135 microg of rHAO developed an incre...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to estimate whether universal influenza vaccination of pregnant women was cost-effective in the management of influenza-like illness during influenza season. METHODS A decision analysis model was developed to investigate the cost-effectiveness of providing inactivated trivalent influenza vaccine to all pregnant women. This scenario was compared with pro...

At present time, there is uncertainty regarding whether influenza-like illness in healthy adults is best managed by preventive efforts that use the trivalent influenza vaccine, administration of neuraminidase inhibitors at the onset of illness, or recommendation of supportive care alone at the onset of illness. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis that examined these 3 strategies for mana...

BACKGROUND Persistent wild-poliovirus transmission, particularly in India, has raised questions about the degree of mucosal immunity induced by oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) in tropical countries. METHODS Excretion of vaccine poliovirus after challenge with OPV was measured in stool samples collected from children identified by the acute flaccid paralysis surveillance program in India during ...