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Study: More Pre-Teens Get Vaccines When Middle Schools Require Them

Posted 7 May 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, May 7 – Pre-teens living in states that require vaccinations for incoming middle school students are more likely to be immunized than those in states without such requirements, a new study finds. Current vaccine guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that boys and girls aged 11 to 12 receive three immunizations or boosters: tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis (TdaP); meningococcal conjugate; and three doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. In 2008-2009, 32 states required TdaP and three required meningococcal conjugate. One state, Virginia, required HPV vaccination for girls during those years. About 80 percent of kids aged 13 to 17 received the recommended TdaP vaccine in states that required vaccination for middle school entry compared to 70 percent of kids in states that didn't require it. For meningococcal vaccine, those rates were ... Read more

Study: No Significant Rise in Seizure Risk From Common Kids' Vaccine

Posted 21 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Feb. 21 – Children who receive a combination vaccine known as DTaP-IPV-Hib have no significant increased risk of febrile seizure, a convulsion triggered by a fever, during the week after vaccination, researchers in Denmark report. The vaccine protects children from five life-threatening illnesses: diptheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b, a bacterium that causes meningitis. The study also found no association between febrile seizures and developing epilepsy, a seizure disorder. "These data indicate there is no significant risk associated with the combined DTaP-IPV-Hib vaccine," said Dr. Gary Freed, director of the child health evaluation and research unit at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who was not involved with the study. "There is no increased risk of epilepsy, and the risk of febrile seizures in the seven days following ... Read more

Too Few American Adults Getting Needed Vaccinations: CDC

Posted 2 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Feb. 2 – Each year, some 45,000 Americans die from diseases that could have been prevented by vaccines, health officials said Thursday. Despite this, the number of American adults who get needed vaccines remains low, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There were some modest increases in coverage, but for very few vaccines," said Dr. Carolyn B. Bridges, associate director of adult immunization at the CDC and co-author of the report. "Coverage is much lower than we would like to see it." The data was published in the Feb. 3 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. According to the report, 2010 (the latest year covered by the report) saw only a small increase in the rate of uptake for just three vaccines. The rate of the tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccination increased 1.6 percent, to 8.2 percent. Tdap ... Read more

Doctors in a Bind When Parents Want to Delay, Skip Vaccines

Posted 28 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Nov. 28 – Mistrust of childhood vaccines is causing some parents to request "alternative" schedules from doctors, either delaying or skipping some shots. And a new study suggests that most pediatricians are willing to go along with these requests – up to a point. "Parents seem to be regularly requesting alternative childhood immunization schedules," noted co-author Dr. Douglas John Opel, an acting assistant professor in the University of Washington's department of pediatrics. However, he added, "there needs to be more research into the effectiveness and safety of these schedules." The report is published in the Nov. 28 online edition of Pediatrics. The issue of parents ignoring standard guidelines on childhood vaccination schedules is worrying to many experts. One study, published in the November issue of Pediatrics, found that more than one in 10 parents in the United States ... Read more

More Teens Getting Vaccines Against HPV, Other Infections: CDC

Posted 14 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Nov. 14 – Although the number of teens getting three new recommended vaccines is growing, there's still room for improvement, government researchers report. The three vaccines were added to the recommended list of vaccines in 2005 through 2007. They include the TdaP vaccine, which shields against tetanus, diptheria and whooping cough (pertussis); the meningitis vaccine (MenACWY) and the human papillomavirus (HPV) shot for girls, which prevents about 70 percent of cervical cancers and vaginal warts. Overall, the proportion of 13- to 17-year-olds who were up-to-date on these three shots rose from 10 percent in 2006 to almost 42 percent by 2009, the team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. "On the good side, vaccination coverage is increasing," said lead researcher Shannon Stokley, from the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory ... Read more

Vaccinations Aren't Just for Kids

Posted 16 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Sept. 16 – Public health experts often focus immunization awareness efforts toward protecting children, and with good reason: Facing a potentially bewildering schedule of vaccinations for their young ones, parents usually need all the help they can get. But vaccinations aren't just kid stuff. Medical science is creating an increasing number of immunizations targeted at adults, to help them avoid life-threatening diseases in middle-age and opportunistic infections when they're older. "Immunization is a life-long issue that we need to pay a lot of attention to," said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. Some adult vaccinations are very well-known, like the annual shot that aims to prevent the spread of influenza. "You need an influenza shot every year," Benjamin said. "Part of that is because the virus changes every year, ... Read more

Adult Vaccinations Protect Children: Report

Posted 19 Aug 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Aug. 19 – Regular vaccinations for adults can help protect children, seniors and people with weakened immune systems, but few American adults get the recommended immunizations, experts say. A recent report from the non-profit Trust for America's Health found that less than one-third of adults in the United States get an annual flu shot and only 2 percent are vaccinated against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. Adults should stay current on their vaccines for many reasons, according to Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the preventive medicine department at Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville, Tenn. Doing so not only protects adults against many diseases, it prevents them from transmitting those diseases to family members, infants and elders, bolstering public health in general. Getting the Tdap vaccine against whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus is particularly ... Read more

Independent Audit of Global Child Immunizations Urged

Posted 17 Dec 2008 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 17 – About 7 million fewer children are immunized against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (pertussis) than individual nations and World Health Organization/UNICEF estimates report, a new study shows. Since countries receive international funding for vaccinations based on these estimates, the University of Washington in Seattle researchers calculated that 51 countries may have been overpaid $140 million, or almost twice as much as they should have received, for vaccinations that were never given. The authors, writing in this week's issue of The Lancet, call for independent monitoring that is open to public scrutiny to avoid abuse of these important health-care initiatives. "Measurement of immunization coverage must be through more periodic gold-standard surveys that are integrated with improved administrative data if progress towards goals such as universal ... Read more

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