Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics
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In the Northern Hemisphere, the persistence or reemergence of coronavirus circulation into the 2020-2021 influenza season threatens to overwhelm health-care resources and systems and increase mortality and morbidity. Data from Australia show that stay-at-home policies have reduced both influenza and coronavirus cases early in the season, thus "flattening the curve." However, influenza vaccination is critical to ensure the reduction in co-infection. Several policies, such as vaccination strategies to accommodate physical distancing measures, change population recommendations, and timing and location of vaccination have been implemented to increase influenza vaccine uptake during the pandemic. This commentary explores those policies.
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Hum Vaccin Immunother · Sep 2020
The use of the health belief model to assess predictors of intent to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and willingness to pay.
The development of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection is on the way. To prepare for public availability, the acceptability of a hypothetical COVID-19 vaccine and willingness to pay (WTP) were assessed to provide insights into future demand forecasts and pricing considerations. ⋯ The findings demonstrate the utility of HBM constructs in understanding COVID-19 vaccination intention and WTP.
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Hum Vaccin Immunother · Jul 2020
Multidimensional social and cultural norms influencing HPV vaccine hesitancy in Asia.
HPV vaccine hesitancy in Asia is unique compared to Western countries due to multidimensional social-cultural norms that influence beliefs regarding vaccination. Reviews on HPV vaccine hesitancy in Asia lack of in-depth discussion regarding the traditional and social-cultural norms dimensions. This paper puts forward opinions in which culture, normative beliefs, and religion influence HPV vaccine hesitancy in Asian countries. ⋯ The shortage of HPV vaccine supply would soon be reduced as some Asian countries are on the way to producing the HPV vaccine which production is currently dominated by Western European countries. The culture of favoring imported Western products among many in Asia and in addition to long-existing fake vaccine crisis pose a challenge for the newly emerging HPV vaccine produced in Asia. Some recommendations, research gaps, and future research needs were discussed.
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In the last two decades, the childhood vaccination coverage in most low and middle-income countries including India has increased. Additional vaccines are being offered through national immunization programs as well as through private sector and the benefits of vaccination are reaching to more children than ever. ⋯ This development is expected to result in epidemiological transition (which is already happening) and mandates for policies and strategies to extend the benefit of available vaccines and vaccination beyond traditionally target age groups to include the adults, elderly and the at-risk populations. This article reviews the present status of adult vaccination in India and proposes a few approaches to move towards life course vaccination.
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Hum Vaccin Immunother · Jun 2020
ReviewPotential for developing a SARS-CoV receptor-binding domain (RBD) recombinant protein as a heterologous human vaccine against coronavirus infectious disease (COVID)-19.
A SARS-CoV receptor-binding domain (RBD) recombinant protein was developed and manufactured under current good manufacturing practices in 2016. The protein, known as RBD219-N1 when formulated on Alhydrogel®, induced high-level neutralizing antibodies and protective immunity with minimal immunopathology in mice after a homologous virus challenge with SARS-CoV (MA15 strain). We examined published evidence in support of whether the SARS-CoV RBD219-N1 could be repurposed as a heterologous vaccine against Coronavirus Infectious Disease (COVID)-19. ⋯ Additionally, a review of published studies using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) raised against SARS-CoV RBD and that neutralizes the SARS-CoV virus in vitro finds that some of these mAbs bind to the receptor-binding motif (RBM) within the RBD, while others bind to domains outside this region within RBD. This information is relevant and supports the possibility of developing a heterologous SARS-CoV RBD vaccine against COVID-19, especially due to the finding that the overall high amino acid similarity (82%) between SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 spike and RBD domains is not reflected in RBM amino acid similarity (59%). However, the high sequence similarity (94%) in the region outside of RBM offers the potential of conserved neutralizing epitopes between both viruses.