HealthPartners’ Post

Today, I had the opportunity to dialogue about “Adult Vaccination: New Vaccines, New Opportunities to Protect Public Health,” at The World Vaccine Congress Washington 2024 pre-congress workshop. PANELISTS included: 🎤Dr. Melinda Wharton, Associate Director for Vaccine Policy & ACIP Secretariat, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 🎤Abby Bownas, Partner at NVG, LLC. and Manager of the Adult Vaccine Access Coalition (AVAC) 🎤Arthur Hirt, Senior Vice President of the US Vaccines Business Unit at Merck 🎤The robust discussion was expertly moderated by Phyllis Arthur, Senior Vice President of Infectious Diseases & Emerging Science Policy at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). After the panel discussion, we broke into groups to identify ‘10 Essential Actions to Improve Adult Immunization’. Stay tuned on the #WorldVaccineCongress website to see which actions made the final list and who stands behind them. The FDA-approved adult vaccines for #COVID19, #RSV, #pneumococcal, #flu, and #shingles have the potential to make a tremendous impact and save millions of lives. The Alliance for Aging Research looks forward to continuing our education and advocacy work with our many fabulous partners for equitable access to all CDC-recommended vaccines! To see our resources, check out: https://lnkd.in/eQm9Awip #WVCDC #Vaccines #OurBestShot

The wave of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines is still out there. The anti-vaxxers use cherry-picked (and totally false) data to spread fear and uncertainty - and resort to threats against anyone who counters their narrative with facts. In particular, they claim without any basis that vaccines are responsible for higher levels of heart disease. A review of de-identified health records from 45.7 million adults in England conclusively shows that the rate of arterial thrombotic events (such as acute myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke, and other arterial embolism) and common venous thrombotic events, (mainly pulmonary embolism and lower limb deep venous thrombosis) was lower after vaccination. https://lnkd.in/euJxD2R6

Clinicians: A new study published in MMWR analyzed vaccine effectiveness data from September 2023-January 2024 for the updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine. Adults with healthy immune systems who had received an updated COVID-19 vaccine were about 50% less likely to visit the emergency department, urgent care or be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared with those who had not received the updated vaccine. Updated COVID-19 vaccines provided protection while JN.1 and XBB lineage variants circulated. Encourage your patients to get their updated COVID-19 vaccine. Staying up to date is especially important for people who are more likely to get very sick with COVID-19, including adults 65 years or older and people with certain medical conditions, such as those with weakened immune systems. Learn more: https://bit.ly/mm7308a5

Did you know? The World Health Organization estimates that vaccination and immunization efforts prevent nearly 3.5-5 million deaths annually. 💉 However, conducting vaccine trials poses its own set of challenges. At LabConnect, we're dedicated to overcoming these obstacles with our tailored central lab model, crafted specifically for the intricate needs of vaccine research. Curious to learn more? Dive into our latest blog, "A Step-by-Step Guide for Accelerating Your Vaccine Trials with the Right Central Lab Partner," and unlock invaluable insights today! ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eQuantGa #LabConnet #ClinicalTrials #VaccineTrials #VaccineResearch #VaccineDevelopment

My PhRMA colleague Michael Ybarra, MD is marking the kick off to the World Vaccine Congress today. Vaccines stand as the cornerstone of public health, offering a formidable defense against a myriad of diseases. By bolstering immunity at both individual and community levels, vaccines not only safeguard personal well-being but also contribute to the greater good of society. Through widespread vaccination efforts, we can effectively curb the spread of diseases, prevent outbreaks, and ultimately save lives. Embracing vaccines is not merely a personal choice but a collective responsibility to foster healthier communities and promote global well-being. Let's unite in our commitment to prioritize public health by advocating for the widespread adoption of vaccination. #VaccinesSaveLives #PublicHealth #CommunityWellness 🌍💉 https://lnkd.in/dq7aaDPb

And it's here! Published!  Our latest research paper on childhood vaccine hesitancy! Our research shows that communication focused on the need for vaccination and the lack of space for discussion and hesitation can be a foreign cause of escalating radical debate and polarisation. Although Covid-19 was not the first pandemic, it was a unique event in terms of scale and intensity. Different countries responded to the threat in different ways. Europeans differed in their risk perceptions, attitudes towards vaccines and vaccine uptake. The discourse around Covid-19 was in the media spotlight for many months. Our work, based on media analysis, revealed important differences but also some similarities in the media debates in different countries. Our study focused on seven European countries and considered two dimensions of comparison: before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. An extremely rich methodological approach, including semantic field analysis and discourse analysis of the mainstream media, allowed us to explore the set of meanings associated with vaccination that may influence the actions of parents and caregivers of children when deciding whether to vaccinate or perhaps abstain. Highlights of our study: Vaccine hesitancy is co-produced by media discourses.Covid-19 has caused a shift in European discourses about vaccines. The shift is also evident in the understanding of time: from prevention (future) to effective distribution of vaccines (now). We invite you to read on! We think this text will help us understand how we can better debate, talk and create a shared public space in the face of growing health and social challenges! Congratulations to the whole team!  Aleksandra Wagner, Paulina Polak, Tadeusz Józef Rudek 高 峻 峰 and Maria Świątkiewicz-Mośny and all the co-authors! Online access --> https://lnkd.in/dBX-Wm48

A new international study will examine the rare side effects caused by COVID-19 vaccines to ensure even better safeguards are in place for future pandemics.   The University of Alberta in Canada is spearheading the study through the International Network of Special Immunization Services (INSIS), a global consortium of academic medical centres, including Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), who are using their expertise to examine the very rare adverse events that can occur after vaccination.   The research conducted by INSIS is crucial, considering the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic. In the first year of their roll-out, these vaccines were responsible for saving about 20 million lives globally.   SAEFVIC director and MCRI Professor NIGEL CRAWFORD said vaccination played a major role in the Australian public health response to COVID-19. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gAwr4QTA #Vaccines #MurdochChildrens #COVID19 #Pandemic #MedicalReseach

🧬💉Excited to share our latest research on pneumococcal vaccination in infants comparing head-to-head three PCV13 schedules in terms of antibodies but also antigen-specific memory B cells using flow cytometry! Our study emphasizes the critical role of booster doses in building robust protection and implies that timing of vaccination is important for shaping immune memory in infants. Memory B cells may serve as correlates for long-term immunity. These insights could inform future vaccination strategies! #Vaccines #Immunology #Pneumococcus

COVID-19 vaccine refusal is driven by deliberate ignorance and cognitive distortions Does providing good solid scientifically information help? No, it is wilfully ignored. https://lnkd.in/dJnsBvj9 1/4 A common but sometimes ineffective intervention to reduce vaccine hesitancy involves providing information on vaccine effectiveness, side effects, and related probabilities 2/4 All participants—particularly those who were anti-vax—frequently ignored some of the information. This deliberate ignorance, especially toward probabilities of extreme side effects, was a stronger predictor of vaccine refusal than typically investigated demographic variables. 3/4 Computational modeling suggested that vaccine refusals among anti-vaccination participants were driven by ignoring even inspected information. In the neutral and pro-vaccination groups, vaccine refusal was driven by distorted processing of side effects and their probabilities 4/4

The efficacy of updated COVID-19 vaccination in preventing COVID-19-associated emergency department (ED) or urgent care encounters has been demonstrated, with a vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 51 percent during the first seven to 59 days after the updated dose. This conclusion stems from a test-negative case-control study design utilizing data from two CDC vaccine effectiveness networks. Led by Jennifer DeCuir, Ph.D., the study evaluated the VE of an updated COVID-19 vaccine dose against COVID-19-related ED or urgent care encounters and hospitalization among immunocompetent adults from September 2023 to January 2024. These findings underscore the importance of updated vaccination strategies in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare utilization. #COVID19 #VaccineEffectiveness #EmergencyCare #UrgentCare #PublicHealth