Pneumococcal vaccination increased 3.3 percentage points to 66.9% among adults ≥ 65 years. Vaccination of adults 19 years and older with tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap) increased by 3.4 percentage points to 26.6% overall.Feb 8, 2018

The report found that vaccination among adults age 60 and older increased from 6.7% in 2008 to 34.5% in 2018.

“Among adults aged 60 and over, shingles vaccination has increased since 2008, however, disparities in receipt of this vaccination still remain,” lead author Emily Terlizzi, MPH, from the National Center for Health Statistics, told Contagion®.

The rates of vaccination were similar among women (35.4%) and men (33.5%), but differences were notable among white adults (38.6), Black adults (18.8%) and Hispanic adults (19.5%).

“I was surprised to see that although the percentage who had ever received a shingles vaccine among women aged 60 and over was higher than that among men in this age group, this difference was not statistically significant,” Terlizzi said.

Terlizzi wrote the brief with Lindsey I. Black, MPH.

The vaccine was recommended for all adults age 60 and older until 2017, when the recommendation changed to include adults age 50 and older.

Now, Gilbert’s, and the world’s, hopes are coming back down to earth, with the news that AstraZeneca paused Phase III trials after one participant in Britain showed symptoms consistent with transverse myelitis, a rare neurological disease caused by inflammation of the spinal cord. Obstacles like this one are not unexpected in vaccine development, experts say. The fact that AstraZeneca is pausing trials to investigate, they point out, is a good thing—a signal that that system is working as it should, that drug companies are taking safety seriously, that there are some scientific norms that politics hasn’t trampled.

But the interruption is also a reminder that no amount of hype—from the endless media headlines, from politicians on Twitter, from the vaccine scientists themselves—is going to save the world from the deadliest pathogen in a century. This week’s news is a cautionary note for those who think a magic bullet might be around the corner—or who think that it might be worth slashing safety protocols to get one.

In fact, the Oxford/AstraZeneca group’s self-assurance raised some eyebrows right from the start.=12pt“I felt this way about a number of the companies,” says Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and co-creator of a rotavirus vaccine. “They would do small Phase I trials, basically dose-ranging trials, and then talk about how they could make tens of millions of doses.”
HEALTH CARE

Vaccine-makers promise safety amid shaky public confidence in Covid developments

BY SARAH OWERMOHLE
“How about a little humility?” he thought.

Gilbert’s prediction reflected more “pride than reality,” says Michael Kinch, director of the Centers for Research Innovation in Biotechnology and Drug Discovery at Washington University in St. Louis. “The reality is that developing a vaccine … is generally quite challenging. Oftentimes, you don’t see the big problems coming.”

This week, that reality arrived for the Oxford vaccine. An independent committee must now determine whether the illness is directly linked to the vaccine or not—both outcomes are possible. If the two are related, that will likely be the end of this vaccine. If not, the trial will likely resume after several weeks.

The hitch is also a reminder that a lot of Covid-19 science is uncharted territory. “We don’t have much experience with these types of vaccines,” says Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adenovirus vectored vaccines, like Oxford’s, are relatively new, and mRNA vaccines—like those developed by Moderna and Pfizer—have never been used before in humans