Travel Vaccine Breaking News

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a harmful bacteria that poses a severe threat to newborns, causing neonatal sepsis infections that can be life-threatening. Given the underdeveloped immune systems of newborns, they are particularly vulnerable to such infections.

The risk of death from neonatal sepsis increases by 7.6% every hour a treatment is delayed.

However, there is currently no vaccine available for pregnant women to prevent this medical issue.

In an attempt to fill this void, the Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) has taken an assertive stance by announcing $467k funding for GlyProVac to develop a maternal vaccine (GPV02) that targets E. coli.

This strategic move will help combat this bacterial species and save the lives of many newborns at risk of these severe infections.

GPV02 uses a selected bacterial protein, naturally decorated with small sugar molecules, to trigger an immune response for protection. This approach differs from previous attempts to develop protein-based bacterial vaccines since it involves specific natural sugar modifications previously undiscovered.

GlyProVac uses BEMAP technology to ensure that GPV02 correctly imitates E. coli, thus preparing the immune system to recognize the bacterium when an infection occurs.

Erin Duffy, Ph.D., R&D Chief of CARB-X, commented in a press release on February 29, 2024, "Because newborns at risk for neonatal sepsis are too young to be immunized, the vaccine would be administered to expectant mothers and target bacteria that cause neonatal bloodstream infections in babies."

"The vaccinated mothers would pass antibodies on to their babies in utero and through breastmilk after birth to strengthen their newborns' immune systems, helping them ward off infections."

The BARNARDS study estimated that 2.5 million neonates or infants in the first month of life die annually of sepsis, with the most significant burden in low- and middle-income countries. Since neonatal sepsis progresses rapidly, it requires immediate treatment with IV fluids and antibiotics.

GlyProVac is a research and development company from the University of Southern Denmark in Odense committed to reducing bacterial infections and antimicrobial resistance worldwide.

The global measles outbreak continued to impact people in England during late February 2024. Over the past decade, the uptake levels of childhood vaccines offered in England have been falling across all vaccines, including measles.

Data show more than 3.4 million children in England are either unprotected or not fully protected and at risk of catching completely preventable diseases.

According to the UK Health Security Agency, 69 additional laboratory-confirmed measles cases have been confirmed in England since one week ago.

As of March 1, 2024, the total number of measles cases confirmed since October 2023 is now 650.

Sixty-three percent (410 of 650) of these measles cases have been in the West Midlands, 15% in London, and 7% in Yorkshire and The Humber. The remaining cases were reported in other regions of England.

To change the trajectory of this measles outbreak, the UKHSA is launching a Childhood Immunisations national marketing campaign on March 4, 2024.

Professor Dame Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of UKHSA, said in a media release, "We need an urgent reversal of the decline in the uptake of childhood vaccinations to protect our communities. Through this campaign, we particularly appeal to parents to check their children's vaccination status and book appointments if their children have missed any immunizations."

"The ongoing measles outbreak we are seeing is a reminder of the very present threat."

"Unless uptake improves, we will start to see the diseases vaccines protect against re-emerging and causing more serious illness."

The UKHSA is co-ordinating its national marketing campaign with an operational measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) catch-up campaign to counter this decline.

Areas with low uptake will be a focus for support and parents of children aged six to 11 years will be contacted directly and urged to make an appointment with their child's GP practice for any missed MMR vaccines.

In 2023, two million texts, emails, and letters were sent to parents and carers of 1-5-year-olds who were unvaccinated, and thanks to those efforts, 165,000 doses of MMR vaccine were delivered.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to recommend that individuals aged 65 and older receive an additional dose of 2023-2024 Formula COVID-19 vaccine four months after receiving the last dose.

According to a Novavax Inc. press release on February 28, 2024, while today's recommendation focuses on protection for older adults at increased risk of COVID-19, information shared at this ACIP meeting also reinforces the ongoing benefit of vaccination for all eligible.

Data from clinical trials continue to show broad long-lived neutralization responses to currently circulating forward-drift variants, including JN.1 and JN.4, for Novavax's protein-based non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccine while maintaining a favorable side effect profile.

Peer-reviewed real-world effectiveness data that shows the immune responses seen in our trials translate into COVID-19 prevention in the real world is being published.

Those interested in a non-mRNA protein-based vaccine should ask their pharmacists about the Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted (2023-2024 Formula) (NVX-CoV2601) at major retail pharmacies nationwide, including, but not limited to, Albertsons, CVS Pharmacy and Rite Aid.

Vaccine doses can also be located at us.novavaxcovidvaccine.com or vaccines.gov.

Novavax's Nuvaxovid™ XBB.1.5 is one of 13 COVID-19 vaccines the World Health Organization listed as of early 2024.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently updated its guidelines on infection prevention and control for Ebola disease ten years after the West African Ebola outbreak.

During outbreaks, Ebola infections have relatively high case fatality rates, averaging about 50%.

Therefore, it is crucial to have evidence-based, up-to-date infection prevention and control guidelines to ensure a safe, systematic, and standardized approach during outbreaks, said the WHO in a media release on February 27, 2024.

The complete guidelines are available on the WHO website (WHO/WPE/CRS/HCR/2023.1) and the web-based MAGICapp platform.

Since 2019, various Zaire Ebolavirus vaccines have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, and the WHO. These Ebola vaccines are not commercially available in 2024.

Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) today announced it awarded $2.2 million to LimmaTech Biologics AG to advance the development of its novel vaccine candidate targeted to prevent Neisseria gonorrhea (NG) infections.

The CARB-X award supports the development of LimmaTech's vaccine candidate that incorporates multiple antigens commonly found in NG bacteria. The goal is to develop a cost-effective vaccine that elicits a robust immune response against different NG bacterial strains.

"Gonorrhea is becoming increasingly resistant to treatment, which reinforces the pressing need for a highly effective and safe vaccine that can protect against this serious and pervasive pathogen," said Dr. Franz-Werner Haas, CEO of LimmaTech, in a press release on February 27, 2024.

"We believe our proprietary vaccine technology offers advantages in efficacy, production scalability, and simplicity to include multiple antigens that can effectively address bacterial infectious disease threats."

The WHO Global Health Sector Strategy on Sexually Transmitted Infections has set goals for reducing gonorrhea incidence by vaccination by 90%.

As of February 2024, no gonorrhea vaccine candidate has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or European Medicines Agency.

However, the U.K.'s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation agreed in 2023 that a targeted program should be initiated using the 4CMenB (Bexsero®) vaccine for the prevention of gonorrhea in those who are at most significant risk of infection.

LimmaTech is a Swiss clinical-stage biotech company that has built a robust pipeline of innovative vaccines to provide solutions against increasingly dangerous infections, including Staphylococcus aureus and Shigella.

In 2024, an unusual number of measles outbreaks have already been confirmed in the United States. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 35 measles cases recently. Recent measles cases have been reported in Indiana and New Orleans.

In 2024, there has been an alarming increase in the number of measles cases in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently reported 35 confirmed measles cases.

And in Florida, a media statement issued by the Florida Department of Health on February 23, 2024, confirmed six measles cases in Broward County and a travel-related case in Central Florida (Polk County).

This area of Florida is home to about 2 million people and is adjacent to various entertainment parks and convention centers.

The Florida Department of Health in Broward County confirmed on February 20, 2024, that students at Manatee Bay Elementary School in Weston were infected, and about 200 classmates did not attend class last week.

Suspected measles cases are required to be reported immediately to county health departments or the Department's Bureau of Epidemiology to ensure prompt response and public health efforts. If a measles infection is suspected, please call your local county health department or the Department's Bureau of Epidemiology at 850-245-4401.

These cases relate to the global measles outbreak, generally impacting unvaccinated children and international travelers.

Last year, the CDC published a global Watch-Level 1, Practice Usual Precautions, Travel Health Notice identifying measles outbreaks in 47 countries.

In 2023, over 500,000 suspected measles cases were reported in 169 destinations.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in a post on X that on May 16, 2024, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will hold a public discussion to recommend the selection of strain(s) to be included in the 2024-2025 formula for COVID-19 vaccines.

On February 26, 2024, the FDA confirmed that changes to the vaccine composition may be necessary based on the currently circulating strains of the virus that causes COVID-19.

After receiving any recommendations from the VRBPAC regarding the 2024-2025 formula update, the FDA plans to take appropriate regulatory actions on updated COVID-19 vaccines so that manufacturers can make them available by September 2024.

The FDA expects that the composition of COVID-19 vaccines may need to be updated annually, as is done for seasonal influenza vaccines.

Background material and the link to the online teleconference and/or video conference meeting will be available on the Advisory Committee calendar no later than two business days before the VRBPAC meeting.

Oral presentations from the public will be scheduled between approximately 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Eastern Time. 

Contact Information: Sussan Paydar or Prabhakara Atreya, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, FDA, 202-657-8533 or [email protected].