Vaccines

From FDA recalls to a new COVID-19 variant, infectious disease news did not slow down in June. Catch up with Contagion's monthly recap of our most-clicked articles.

As of today, the new GSK and Pfizer RSV vaccines are authorized for adults 60 years and older. With CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky’s endorsement, the vaccines are expected to be available as soon as this fall.

There was a lower risk of Omicron infection for each 10-fold increase in preinfection IgG, and for each 2-fold increase in neutralizing antibody titers.

This week's most-read stories included a dive into racial disparities in hepatitis B and increased meningococcal disease in persons with HIV.

The film is part of a GSK campaign, Ask2BSure, that addresses this issue.

The vaccine manufacturer has incorporated spike proteins for the XBB.1.5 sublineage of SARS-CoV-2 for its mRNA-1273.815 COVID-19 vaccine.

Older adults should receive the GSK or Pfizer RSV vaccine this fall, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted yesterday. The recommendation is expected to be finalized by CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

ABNCoV2, a non-adjuvanted COVID-19 booster vaccine by Bavarian Nordic, demonstrates promising results in phase 2 trials. The vaccine generates strong immune responses, neutralizing multiple variants of concern, including Beta, Delta, and Omicron.

The vaccine induced seroprotective chikungunya virus neutralizing antibodies in 98.9% of participants, regardless of age, and levels were maintained for up to 180 days.

The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) unanimously voted 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccines should be updated to a monovalent XBB strain.

"It does take the immune system a while to build up antibodies and recover," said Madeline King-Patel, PharmD, BCIDP, "So you don't want to give the vaccines too close to each other, or you're not going to get the full benefits."

The FDA's decision to approve Abrysvo was based on data from a Phase 3 clinical trial, which demonstrated the RSV vaccine's efficacy, immunogenicity, and safety in adults aged 60 and older.

Neutralizing antibodies were initially lowest among Janssen vaccine recipients, but this all changed 6 months after vaccination.

There has been a low uptake of bivalent mRNA booster vaccines in older adults, despite a high efficacy of preventing severe and fatal COVID-19.

Accelerating bivalent booster vaccine campaigns for children could reduce pediatric hospitalizations and school absenteeism.

Pfizer's RSVpreF vaccine candidate has shown promising efficacy in preventing severe lower respiratory illness caused by RSV in infants. With the potential approval of RSVpreF, pediatric care could undergo a significant positive change.

A vaccine developer discusses the benefits of this approach and the development behind them.

Steven Varga, PhD, explains why infants and young children are so susceptible to severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections.

RSV expert Steven Varga, PhD, describes the failed vaccine trials that paved the way for the world's first respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, as well as the innovations still needed to protect vulnerable populations against RSV infection.

The FDA has authorized GSK’s Arexvy (RSVPreF3 +AS01E) prevent lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD) caused by RSV in adults 60 years and older.

The vaccine efficacy of the Novavax’s NVX-CoV2373 was 79.5% in adolescents.

Panel moderator Rodney Rohde, PhD, notes that word choice is important and clinicians should emphasize the COVID-19 vaccine is not a live virus but is instead designed to challenge the immune system to protect against the virus.

Containing 20 serotypes, Pfizer's Prevnar 20 grants the broadest serotype coverage of any pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

An outbreak of the highly infectious measles virus has led American Samoa to declare a public health emergency.

The last week in April is World Immunization Week, and we're recapping the most recent and significant developments in infectious disease vaccines.

This study surveyed parents’ opinions on the risks of COVID-19 infection versus vaccination to determine how they affected the decision to vaccinate a child against COVID-19.

The CDC and FDA now recommend the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA bivalent COVID-19 vaccines be used for all vaccinations in the US.

Increased understanding of HCV protective immunity and HCV envelope glycoprotein structure and function may propel development of an HCV vaccine.

The FDA moved to harmonize primary and booster COVID-19 vaccine doses, deciding only the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent mRNA vaccines should be administered to individuals 6 months and older.

Post-COVID-19 conditions were more common in unvaccinated children than in children who had received at least 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.