The Science group is simultaneously publishing four papers (two in the journal Science, one in Science Immunology and one in Science Translational Medicine) that include advances in a sequential vaccination strategy for an effective HIV vaccine. The methods employed aim to obtain broad-spectrum neutralising antibodies and one of the proposals is already in clinical trials.
The NEJM publishes the results of a phase III clinical trial conducted by GSK that had to be suspended due to a safety signal. The study shows that newborns of vaccinated mothers had a lower risk of experiencing severe events associated with the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), but also a higher risk of being born prematurely.
Toledo and Alicante are suffering the first outbreaks of measles recorded in Spain since the pandemic, El País reported today. In total, 15 cases have been confirmed since 1 January, of which seven are imported and eight autochthonous.
Children born in October are more likely to be vaccinated against flu during that month and less likely to be diagnosed with the disease than those born in other months, according to a study published in BMJ. The research involved more than 800,000 US children aged two to five years who were vaccinated against the flu between 1 August and 31 January in the period from 2011 to 2018. The results suggest that the month of birth is related to both the timing of flu vaccination and the likelihood of flu diagnosis, and that October is the best month for flu vaccination.
In a clinical trial of nearly 5,000 children aged 5-36 months, a new malaria vaccine - called R21/MatrixM - reduced symptomatic cases by 68-75% over the following year. According to the authors, the vaccine will be inexpensive and could contribute to a substantial reduction in malaria suffering and deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. The results of the phase 3 trial are published in The Lancet.
We often see the term 'vaccine' used in the media to refer to drugs that target diseases that are not even infectious, such as cancer and cholesterol. In this article we explain when it is correct to talk about vaccines and when it would be wrong.
The Karolinska Institute has awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their groundbreaking discoveries, which have radically changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, and made it possible to develop vaccines at unprecedented speed during the covid-19 pandemic.
A meta-analysis analyzing the results of 18 clinical trials concludes that influenza vaccination may produce more adverse reactions in women than in men. According to the authors, whose research is published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, "the data suggest that most reactions are mild, self-limited, and rarely serious." "Transparent communication about the increased risk for women could help maintain long-term confidence in health authorities and vaccines," they add.
An international team of scientists, led by Stanford University (United States), has designed a study to analyse the relationship between herpes zoster virus infections and the development of dementia. To do so, they took advantage of the introduction of the Zostavax vaccine against this virus in 2013 in Wales (UK), which people over the age of 80 could not receive. After reviewing data from people around this age over the following seven years, they concluded that the vaccine reduced the relative risk of dementia by 20%. According to the authors, their study, which is in prepublication form and has not been peer-reviewed, "leads to the conclusion that shingles vaccination is most likely an effective way to prevent or delay the onset of dementia".
A journal article published in the BMJ discusses the potential adverse effects associated with GSK and Pfizer's RSV vaccines in the face of a possible increase in preterm births and argues for further study of the risks and benefits of the drug.