Immunisation Horizon Scanning Volume 4 Issue 9

Vaccination plans raise ‘grave concerns’ from experts

Source: GP Online

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Date of publication: August 2012

Publication Type: News Item

In a nutshell: Immunisation experts are ‘gravely concerned’ that vaccination services will be undermined by changes to the way national schemes are managed.

Length of publication: 1 page news item

New cervical jab to be offered

Source: Nursing Times Online

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Date of publication: September 2012

Publication Type: News Item

In a nutshell: Girls who are returning to school this week are being encouraged to ensure they receive all three doses of the cervical cancer jab.

Length of publication: 1 page news item

Some important information: Please contact your local NHS Library for the full text of the article. Follow this link to find your local NHS Library.

Teenagers and newborn babies in England and Wales may get pertussis jab as cases continue to rise

Source: British Medical Journal, 2012, 354: e5919

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Date of publication: 1 page news item

Publication Type: News Item

In a nutshell:

Teenagers may be vaccinated against pertussis after a rise of more than 1000 cases this summer in England and Wales. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is considering the move after provisional figures from the Health Protection Agency showed that 1047 cases of the disease were reported in July, bringing the total number of cases so far this year to 3523. The July figure is nearly as high as the number of reported cases in the whole of last year, 1118.

Length of publication: 1 page news item

Some important information: This article is available in full text to all NHS Staff using Athens, for more information about accessing full text follow this link to find your local NHS Library

Vaccinating against shingles

Source: Independent Nurse, 2012, 8 (20) August

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Date of publication: August 2012

Publication Type: Article

In a nutshell: Proposals to vaccinate older people against shingles could help prevent the debilitating symptoms illustrated in the following case study, writes Chris Parr

Length of publication: 1 page article

Some important information:Please contact your local NHS Library for the full text of the article. Follow this link to find your local NHS Library.

Quantifying the efficacy of influenza vaccines

Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2012, 12 (9) p. 656

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Date of publication: September 2012

Publication Type: Correspondence

In a nutshell: The gloomy message reported by Michael Osterholm and colleagues urges for improved monitoring of the efficacy of seasonal influenza vaccines. Their finding that influenza vaccines provide only moderate protection, which is greatly reduced or absent in some seasons, against virologically confirmed influenza, seems odd but could be predicted from rather old results that classify immunity against influenza as the so-called original antigenic sin. Only epitopes expressed on the next encountered viral strain that are shared with the first strain will evoke an immune response.

Length of publication: 1 page letter

Measles surge leads to call for back-to-school jabs

Source: GP Online

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Date of publication: August 2012

Publication Type: News Item

In a nutshell: Measles infections are continuing to rise and parents must ensure children have had both MMR jabs before returning to school, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has said.
Length of publication: 1 page news item

GPs fill gap as universities fail to provide hep B jabs

Source: GP Online

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Date of publication: August 2012

Publication Type: News Item

In a nutshell: GPs are being left to immunise medical students against hepatitis B as students are not receiving the vaccinations at medical schools, the GPC has warned.
Length of publication: 1 page news item

New HPV vaccine approved in Scotland

Source: Nursing Times Online

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Date of publication: August 2012

Publication Type: News Item

In a nutshell: A different type of vaccine will be used to protect teenage girls against a virus which can cause cervical cancer and genital warts, the Scottish government has announced.

Length of publication: 1 page news item

Some important information: Please contact your local NHS Library for the full text of this news item  follow this link to find your local NHS Library

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