Vaccine News

The Federative Republic of Brazil's Ministry of Health recently confirmed it is the first country in the world to offer Takeda's QDENGA® dengue vaccine in a universal public system. 

QDENGA (TAK-003) is a tetravalent vaccine [Live, Attenuated] that does not require pre-admision testing.

As of January 15, 2024, the Ministry of Health forecasts that 5.2 million doses will be delivered between February and November 2024.

The current expectation is that around 3.2 million people will be vaccinated in 2024.

In 2023, the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization confirmed QDENGA had demonstrated efficacy against all four serotypes of the dengue virus in baseline seropositive children (4-16 years) in endemic countries and against serotypes 1 and 2 in baseline seronegative children.

As of January 17, 2024, QDENGA is authorized in several countries but not the United States.

Biological E. Limited today announced that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has granted an Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to their CORBEVAX® vaccine, India's first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine.

As of January 16, 2024, there are 13 COVID-19 vaccines granted EUL by the WHO. 

CORBEVAX's antigen's initial construct and production process were developed at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas, led by Drs. Bottazzi and Hotez and in-licensed from BCM Ventures.

CORBEVAX is a protein sub-unit vaccine not produced with mRNA technology. 

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has already approved CORBEVAX  for restricted use in emergencies among adults, adolescents, and young children in a sequential manner from December '21 to April '22, as well as India's first heterologous COVID-19 booster shot for adults age 18 and above in June '22.

BE supplied 100 Million Doses of CORBEVAX to the Government of India.

Ms. Mahima Datla, Managing Director of Biological E. Limited, said in a press release, "We understand that several countries come under a lot of fiscal pressure when dealing with COVID-19. We aim to reach the people in those countries with CORBEVAX, just as we have done with all our other vaccines."

"Our commitment is to provide affordable and accessible high-quality vaccines, and the WHO EUL lays a path for us to make that possible."

Ms. Mahima further added, "While several companies which entered the field of vaccine development & manufacturing during the COVID-19 pandemic exited soon afterward either due to paucity of funds or lack of success, BE continues to remain committed to develop and provide access to high-quality, affordable vaccines globally by constantly enlarging its portfolio of offerings."

As of January 17, 2024, CORBEVAX is not U.S. FDA-approved or available in the U.S.

In a new study published in Cell Reports Medicine, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine explained why people would benefit from a saphylococcus aureus (SA) vaccine.

While SA causes many dangerous health complications, including wound and bloodstream infections, the bacterium is also a normal part of the healthy human microbiome, where it lives peacefully in the nose and on the skin.

These researchers tested a new hypothesis that SA bacteria can trick the body into releasing non-protective antibodies when they first colonize or infect humans.

When the individual is later vaccinated, these non-protective antibodies are preferentially recalled, making the vaccine ineffective.

This study showed that antibody responses against SA cell-wall-associated antigens (CWAs) are non-opsonic, while antibodies against SA toxins are neutralizing.

Significantly, the protective characteristics of the antibody imprints accurately predict the failure of corresponding vaccines against CWAs and support vaccination against toxins.

In passive immunization platforms, natural anti-SA human antibodies reduce the efficacy of the human monoclonal antibodies suvratoxumab and tefibazumab, which is consistent with the results of their respective clinical trials.

Strikingly, in the absence of specific humoral memory responses, active immunizations are efficacious in both naive and SA-experienced mice.

Overall, this study points to a practical and predictive approach to evaluating and developing SA vaccines based on pre-existing humoral imprint characteristics.

“SA has been with humans a long time, so it’s learned how to be part-time symbiont, part-time deadly pathogen,” said senior author George Liu MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine, in a press release on January 16, 2024. 

“If we’re going to develop effective vaccines against SA, we need to understand and overcome the strategies it uses to maintain this lifestyle.”

This study was funded, in part, by the U.S. National Institute of Health.

According to various health departments located on the East Coast of the United States, there have been several confirmed reports of measles infections in early 2024.

As of January 16, 2024, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health reported a measles cluster among eight unvaccinated residents.

Across the river from Philadelphia, the Camden County, New Jersey Health Department announced on January 13, 2023, that it was closely monitoring a measles case of a child who attended daycare.

On January 13, 2024, the Virginia Department of Health was notified of a confirmed case of measles in a person who traveled through Dulles and Reagan airports when returning from international travel.

Furthermore, the Delaware Division of Public Health reported on January 11, 2024, a potential measles exposure at the Nemours Children's Hospital in Wilmington. An investigation has identified up to 30 people exposed to the infectious individual in late December 2023.

Most measles cases in the U.S. are related to international travel, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2023, there were 48 measles cases confirmed in twenty U.S. jurisdictions.

Last year, the CDC published a global Watch-Level 1, Practice Usual Precautions, Travel Health Notice in 2023, identifying measles outbreaks in 47 countries. 

As of January 12, 2024, the CDC listed the top ten measles outbreaks led by Yemen and India over the past year.

Measles is a vaccine-preventable disease, says the CDC. A highly contagious virus causes it. The measles virus can live for up to two hours in an airspace after an infected person leaves an area. Moreover, people can spread measles up to four days before and four days after a rash.

Most clinics and pharmacies in the U.S. offer measles vaccination services.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reissued its Level 2 - Practice Enhanced Precautions Global Polio notice.

As of January 5, 2024, the CDC's Travel Health Notice confirmed that polio and poliovirus are health risks in about thirty-one countries that have recently reported outbreaks.

The CDC says that adults who previously completed the whole, routine polio vaccine series may receive a single, lifetime booster dose of the polio vaccine before traveling to any of these destinations.

Any other traveler should ensure they are up-to-date on their polio vaccination schedule.

In the U.S., the IPV vaccine has been deployed since 2000.

Jeri Beales, MSN RN at Destination Health Travel Clinic in Natick, MA, 01760, told Precision Vaccinations, "It's a common misconception that polio has been eradicated worldwide. We forget that polio is still out there because cases are so rare in the U.S. Decades of vaccination efforts in the U.S. have kept infections at bay; still, sadly, polio has regained a foothold in various countries."

"So, if you have plans to travel to a country experiencing a polio outbreak, you may be putting yourself and your family at risk. Adults need to receive a one-time additional dose of polio before traveling to any high-risk countries because the vaccines you received as a child may no longer be protective. Like a lot of vaccines, the effectiveness wears off with time."

"And don't forget, if you're traveling with children, check with their pediatrician to ensure they are up-to-date on their polio immunizations.

In late 2023, the WHO announced that the risk of the international spread of poliovirus remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and recommended its extension and Temporary Recommendations for three months.

According to the CDC, most people with polio do not feel sick. Some people have only minor symptoms, such as fever, tiredness, nausea, headache, nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, neck and back stiffness, and arm and leg pain.

However, in rare cases, polio infection causes permanent loss of muscle function. Polio can be fatal if the muscles used for breathing are paralyzed or if there is an infection of the brain.

Note: This news article was updated with the provider's perspective on Jan.16, 2024.

According to recent reports out of the states of Pennsylvania and Washington, measles outbreaks have been confirmed in potentially unvaccinated people in 2024.

On January 12, 2024, the Philadelphia Health Department confirmed eight measles cases spanning 2023 and 2024.

Health agencies alerted healthcare providers in the northwest after six measles cases were identified in Clark and Wahkiakum counties in Washington.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that since the United States has such a high measles vaccination rate, most measles cases are related to international travelers.

Last year, ten countries reported over 90% of all measles cases worldwide, led by Yemen and India. 

During 2023, a total of 48 measles cases were reported by twenty U.S. jurisdictions. The CDC did not disclose the vaccination status of the measles cases.

The good news from the CDC is that various measles vaccines (MMR) are available in 2024, generally available at clinics and pharmacies in the U.S.

Furthermore, before heading abroad in 2024, the CDC publishes this digital app to help travelers determine whether or not they need MMR vaccination before departure.

In response to an active polio outbreak, the Indonesian government has recently requested the WHO Director-General’s approval to release the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2).

As of January 11, 2024, the WHO issued a Disease Outbreak News alert (DON500) confirming the approval of more than 20 million doses of nOPV2 for two rounds of supplementary immunization activities scheduled for January 15, 2024, and February 19, 2024.

Previously, Indonesia reported four cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) from October 2022 to February 2023.

In late December 2023, the Indonesian Ministry of Health notified WHO of two new confirmed cases of cVDPV2.

Genetic sequencing of isolates at the BioFarma National Polio Laboratory indicates cVDPV2 with 36 nucleotide changes, genetically linked to a case reported in West Java province to the WHO in March 2023.

Vaccine-derived poliovirus is a well-documented strain that has mutated from the strain initially used in oral polio vaccines.

In sporadic instances, the vaccine-derived virus can genetically mutate into a form that can cause paralysis, just as the wild poliovirus does – this is what is known as a vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV).

The detection of VDPV in at least two different sources, at least two months apart, that are genetically linked and showing evidence of transmission in the community is classified as cVDPV.

According to the WHO, the overall risk is assessed as high at the national level. At the regional level, the overall risk is assessed to be moderate.

Furthermore, the WHO advises against implementing any travel or trade restrictions on Indonesia based on the current information available on this event. 

As of January 12, 2024, about 1 billion doses of the nOPV2 vaccines have been distributed.