April 2019
This newsletter is meant to keep you up to date on issues related to vaccines quickly and easily. We welcome your comments and questions at vacinfo@email.chop.edu. |
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Announcements: Webinar archive, new Q&A sheet
Webinar archive
The archived April 2019 webinar is available for viewing and for continuing education credits. Slides and the Q&A sheet from the event are also available.
Dr. Offit discussed the following topics related to influenza vaccine:
- Vaccine surveillance, 2018-19
- Vaccine effectiveness, 2018-2019
- FluMist®
- Vaccine safety: Spontaneous abortion
- Vaccine strains for 2019-20
VEC webinars are supported by the Thomas F. McNair Scott Endowed Research and Lectureship Fund and are co-sponsored by the Pennsylvania Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics.
New Q&A sheet
A new “Special Topics” sheet, titled “ Vaccines and Solid Organ Transplants: What You Should Know" is now available in English. Developed in collaboration with the infectious diseases and transplant teams at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the sheet answers questions related to timing of vaccines, factors to consider before and after a transplant, and questions related to family members of transplant recipients. |
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News & views: The immune system — How it works, when it develops and more, in a new section of the VEC website
Charlotte A. Moser, Assistant Director, and Paul A. Offit, Director, Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Too many vaccines. Vaccines too soon. The timing of vaccines on the schedule. While these are vaccine-related concerns, they also have to do with the immune system. As such, helping people better understand how the immune system works may help to relieve or address some vaccine-related concerns. The Vaccine Education Center recently added a new website section about the immune system. You may find it to be a helpful resource for talking about the immune system or for sharing with patients and their families.
New web pages include:
- About this Section — Provides an overview of each of the other pages.
- Types of Immunity — Describes how passive and active immunity are achieved and describes community immunity.
- Parts of the Immune System — Describes the organs and tissues of the immune system and the innate and adaptive immune systems and how they respond to pathogens.
- Development of the Immune System — Describes the gestational development of the immune system as well as its status at birth and what that means for vaccines.
- How the Immune System Works — Describes primary and memory immune responses as well as original antigenic sin and weakened immunity. This page also briefly addresses the effects of vitamins, complementary and alternative treatments, and medications on the immune system.
- What Happens When the Immune System Does Not Work Properly? — Describes immune deficiencies, unnecessary or overzealous immune responses and autoimmunity, and provides examples of each.
The new website section can be accessed from the right navigation of the VEC website by selecting “Human Immune System.”
We hope you will find this new web section to be a useful resource.
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In the journals: Infections during pregnancy increase chance of autism or depression
Paul A. Offit, MD, Director, Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
In 2019, researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Washington School of Medicine evaluated the relationship between maternal infections during hospitalization and neuropsychiatric outcome (al-Haddad, BJ, et al. Long-term risk of neuropsychiatric disease after exposure to infection in utero. JAMA Psychiatry. 2019 Mar 6. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry2019.0029).
The authors found that any maternal infection during pregnancy significantly increased the likelihood of diagnosis of autism or depression in their offspring. No evidence was found, however, for an increase in the diagnosis of bipolar disorder or psychosis.
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Technically speaking: Refresher! Use of pneumococcal vaccines in infants, children, and children with health conditions
Deborah L. Wexler, MD, Executive Director, Immunization Action Coalition
Since the licensure of PCV13 (Prevnar 13®, Pfizer) in 2010, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has published three sets of recommendations for the use of PCV13 and PPSV23 (Pneumovax®23, Merck) in children. The guidance for high-risk conditions can be complex, but fortunately, a number of organizations have developed detailed materials to help healthcare professionals determine which of the two pneumococcal vaccines are recommended for whom and with what timing.
Check out a summary of the current recommendations, and find a series of helpful resources.
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From the media: State of the Immunion 2019
With all of the efforts related to stopping disease outbreaks, you may not have realized that Vaccinate Your Family, the next generation of Every Child By Two, released their annual State of the Immunion report.
The report is a great resource for sharing with local policymakers as well as for finding useful statistics to share with staff and patients or their family members during vaccine discussions. For example, did you know that:
- More people died during the 2017-2018 influenza season (79,000) than in any other single season since the 1970s? (page 2)
- By November 2018, a chickenpox outbreak in North Carolina had spread to almost 40 children, making it the largest since the vaccine was introduced in the mid-1990s? (page 6)
- Tdap is the only vaccine that more than half of preteens and teens are getting, leaving many susceptible to influenza, meningococcus and HPV? (page 10)
- It costs more than $27 billion every year to treat adults over 50 years old who are infected with influenza, pneumococcal disease, shingles and whooping cough? (page 12)
- Vaccinating pregnant women with Tdap and influenza vaccines, according to recommendations, decreases a baby’s risk of getting pertussis by 91 percent and influenza by 70 percent, respectively? (page 15)
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On the calendar
New meetings and the complete list of talks from the Autism Science Foundation’s 2019 Day of Learning are now posted on the calendar.
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On the bookshelf: Defeating the Ministers of Death by David Isaacs
Defeating the Ministers of Death was written by Professor David Isaacs and published by Harper Collins in April 2019. Full of interesting vaccine tidbits, the book focuses on the historical aspect of vaccines while still offering up-to-date information that is relevant for parents today. Unlike many other books, this one focuses on vaccines from the Australian perspective and also discusses vaccines in the United Kingdom. The United States still appears prominently, but because the author is based in Australia, the observations were presented from an outside point of view.
Find more details about the contents or how to get the book.
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Vaccine Resources: Autism Science Foundation’s 2019 Day of Learning
The Autism Science Foundation (ASF) was founded “to support autism research by providing funding and other assistance to scientists and organizations conducting, facilitating, publicizing and disseminating autism research.”
In 2017, ASF was busy. They:
- Awarded almost $1 million in grant funding
- Launched phase 2 of the Autism Sisters Project to provide grants querying a database of unaffected sisters of those with autism
- Provided grants for researchers studying early signs of autism, called the Baby Siblings Research Consortium
- Hosted 50 weekly science podcasts related to autism research news for families
- And much more
Each year, ASF also hosts a day of learning filled with TED-like talks to update the state of autism research. Talks from the 2019 Day of Learning are posted online. Talks included information about reducing self-injury and aggression, the role of the microbiome, understanding psychiatric comorbidities and reducing suicide, and more. Find the complete list of talks and presenters in the Vaccine Update “On the Calendar” page (see the “On-demand Webinars” section of the page).
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