Parental preferences for rotavirus vaccination for their children under 5 years old in China: A discrete choice experiment.

Rotavirus vaccination is the most effective means to prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis, but its coverage in China is not ideal. We aimed to explore parental preferences for rotavirus vaccination for their children under 5years old to improve vaccination coverage. A Discrete Choice Experiment was conducted online on 415 parents with at least one child under 5years old in 3 cities. Five attributes including vaccine effectiveness, protection duration, risk of mild side-effects, out-of-pocket costs, and time required for vaccination were identified. Each attribute was set at three levels. Mixed-logit models were used to measure parental preferences and the relative importance of vaccine attributes. The optimal vaccination strategy was also explored. 359 samples were included in the analysis. The impacts of the vaccine attribute levels on vaccine choice were all statistically significant (p < .01), except for 1-hour vaccination time. The risk of mild side-effects was the most important factor influencing vaccination. The time required for vaccination was the least important attribute. The largest increase in vaccination uptake (74.45%) occurred with decreased the vaccine risk of mild side-effects from 1/10 to 1/50. The predicted vaccination uptake of the optimal vaccination scenario was 91.79%. When deciding about vaccination, parents preferred the rotavirus vaccination with lower risk of mild side-effects, higher effectiveness, longer protection duration, 2-hour vaccination time and lower cost. The authorities should support enterprises to develop vaccines with lower side-effects, higher effectiveness and longer protection duration in the future. We call for appropriate government subsidies for the rotavirus vaccine.

COVID-19 impact on infant and adolescent vaccine supplies.

Vaccine production is quadrupling rapidly, creating supply chain challenges.

Gender and intersectional analysis of livestock vaccine value chains in Kaffrine, Senegal.

Among livestock species, poultry and small ruminants are of particular importance to rural women in low- and middle-income countries, as means to generate income, provide nutritious food for the family, accumulate wealth, and confer social status. Newcastle disease (ND) and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) are widespread livestock diseases of poultry and small ruminants, respectively. While both diseases are vaccine preventable, numerous constraints limit the availability of and access to livestock vaccines, especially among the most vulnerable populations in developing countries. The literature on equity and effectiveness of livestock vaccine distribution systems has emphasized many of these constraints, however a gendered analysis and deeper understanding of the vaccine system remain insufficient. This paper applies a gendered and intersectional transformational approach, or GITA, to highlight how gender and other social factors affect the provision and utilization of vaccines for ND and PPR diseases in the region of Kaffrine, Senegal. We first articulate and describe the vaccine value chains (VVCs) for these diseases in Kaffrine, and then analyze the gendered and intersectional dynamics at different nodes of the VVCs, including actors at the national level, through the regional and district levels, down to providers of animal health at community level and the livestock keepers themselves. Our findings indicate that actors' various experiences are shaped and defined mainly by rigid gender norms, location and remoteness, and to a lesser degree by other social stratifications of age, ethnicity, and livelihood. Given the significant role that gender norms play in the livestock vaccine value chains, differences according to the livestock species, regulation of vaccine administration, and vaccine distribution systems emerge as highly relevant for understanding barriers that women specifically face within the livestock vaccination system.

Optimal allocation of limited vaccine to control an infectious disease: Simple analytical conditions.

When allocating limited vaccines to control an infectious disease, policy makers frequently have goals relating to individual health benefits (e.g., reduced morbidity and mortality) as well as population-level health benefits (e.g., reduced transmission and possible disease eradication). We consider the optimal allocation of a limited supply of a preventive vaccine to control an infectious disease, and four different allocation objectives: minimize new infections, deaths, life years lost, or quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) lost due to death. We consider an SIR model with n interacting populations, and a single allocation of vaccine at time 0. We approximate the model dynamics to develop simple analytical conditions characterizing the optimal vaccine allocation for each objective. We instantiate the model for an epidemic similar to COVID-19 and consider n=2 population groups: one group (individuals under age 65) with high transmission but low mortality and the other group (individuals age 65 or older) with low transmission but high mortality. We find that it is optimal to vaccinate younger individuals to minimize new infections, whereas it is optimal to vaccinate older individuals to minimize deaths, life years lost, or QALYs lost due to death. Numerical simulations show that the allocations resulting from our conditions match those found using much more computationally expensive algorithms such as exhaustive search. Sensitivity analysis on key parameters indicates that the optimal allocation is robust to changes in parameter values. The simple conditions we develop provide a useful means of informing vaccine allocation decisions for communicable diseases.

Plan nacional de vacunación contra la COVID-19: República de Guatemala / National COVID-19 vaccination plan: Republic of Guatemala

Para facilitar la introducción de la vacuna contra la COVID-19 el Ministerio de Salud Pblica y Asistencia Social (MSPAS) estableció el Comité Nacional de Coordinación para Vacunación contra COVID-19 (CNVCOVID) a través del Acuerdo Ministerial No 0262-2020, con la finalidad de desarrollar e implementar el plan estratégico nacional de vacunación contra la COVID-19. Este documento representa ese producto, en el cual se integran y describen los componentes esenciales para el despliegue de la vacunación contra la COVID-19 el cual se actualizará periódicamente, a medida que se obtenga información actualizada, científica, legal y técnico-operativa para fortalecer la estrategia de vacunación contra la COVID-19 en Guatemala

Vacunación frente a la COVID-19: guía de suministro y logística. Orientación provisional / COVID-19 vaccination: supply and logistics guidance. Interim guidance

La pandemia de la COVID 19 está provocando pérdidas humanas y económicas sin precedentes en todos los países y en todas las sociedades del mundo. De forma colectiva, la disponibilidad de vacunas seguras y efectivas frente al virus, tecnologías de diagnóstico y terapéuticas especializadas, así como el cumplimiento de las medidas sociales y de salud pública y la prevención de nuevas introducciones zoonóticas, son fundamentales para salvar más vidas. COVAX, el mecanismo del pilar de las vacunas del Acelerador del Acceso a las herramientas contra la COVID-19, tiene por finalidad acelerar el acceso equitativo de todos los países a vacunas adecuadas, seguras y efectivas. Para enero de 2021, había ya en desarrollo más de 200 candidatos a nuevas vacunas frente al coronavirus, de los cuales 64 en fase de ensayos clínicos. El London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine ha desarrollado una herramienta interactiva1 para seguir el progreso de estos candidatos a vacuna en tiempo real. Se recomienda la consulta periódica de esta herramienta para conocer el estado de desarrollo de estas potenciales vacunas, así como sus respectivos perfiles y posible cadena de temperatura controlada (CTC). Dado el contexto de pandemia, es posible que las vacunas no hayan sido precalificadas cuando comiencen a utilizarse, sino que se autorizarán según los procedimientos de la Lista de uso en emergencias ( ) de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS). El procedimiento EUL fue desarrollado por la OMS para agilizar la disponibilidad y uso de productos médicos no autorizados en situaciones de emergencia de salud pública. En este contexto, es posible que algunas de las características del perfil de las vacunas no hayan sido determinadas en el momento del etiquetado para su uso. Por ejemplo, puede que aún no se conozcan la fecha de caducidad o el tipo de sensor de control del vial de la vacuna (SVV). Por tanto, será preciso aplicar prácticas y procedimientos rigurosos de suministro, distribución, logística y gestión durante el despliegue de la vacunación. La información mínima que debe constar en la etiqueta (ver abajo) y en el prospecto en los seis idiomas de las Naciones Unidas aún se está deliberando. Es posible que la etiqueta indique una fecha de fabricación en lugar de fecha de caducidad, y que esa fecha de caducidad se actualice posteriormente mediante datos de estabilidad en tiempo real accesibles a través de un código de barras que instaría a los usuarios a consultar una página web. Esta característica significa que hay una serie de nuevos requisitos en las actividades de gestión de las vacunas que deben aplicarse rigurosamente durante su despliegue.

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented human and economic costs in all countries and societies across the world. Collectively, the availability of safe and effective vaccines against the virus, specialized diagnostics technologies and therapeutics, as well as adherence to public health and social measures, and preventing new zoonotic introductions, are instrumental in saving further lives. The vaccine pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (COVAX) Facility aims to accelerate equitable access to appropriate, safe and efficacious vaccines for all countries. As of January 2021, over 200 novel coronavirus vaccine candidates are under development, of which 64 are in clinical trials. The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has developed an interactive tool1 that tracks the progress of the candidate vaccines in real time. It is recommended to access it regularly to verify the status of the vaccines' development progress, profiles and potential controlled temperature chain (CTC). Given the pandemic context, the vaccines may not be prequalified during their initial periods of use; they will be released under World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (EUL) ( ) procedures. The EUL process was developed by WHO to expedite the availability and use of unlicensed medical products needed in public health emergency situations. In this context, it is possible that some vaccine profile characteristics will not be established by the time they are labelled for use. For example, the expiry date and vaccine vial monitor (VVM) category may not be established. Consequently, strict supply, distribution, logistics and management procedures and practices must be applied throughout the vaccination deployment. The minimum label information (shown below) and package insert in six United Nations (UN) languages are under consideration. The label may include a manufacturing date rather than an expiry date and the expiry date could be updated through real-time stability data accessible via a barcode that would direct users to a website. This characteristic represents new requirements of vaccine management activities that need to be handled appropriately in the field.

Vacina Covid-19 ­ Brasil / Covid-19 vaccine - Brazil

De acordo com informações da Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (ANVISA), quatro vacinas contra a COVID-19 estão sendo testadas no Brasil, todas elas para faixa etária maior ou igual a 18 anos; exceto a vacina da Pfizer que contempla a faixa etária maior ou igual a 16 anos. Com relação ao uso de tais vacinas, até o dia 18 de janeiro de 2021 (última atualização disponível), duas vacinas encontram-se aprovadas para uso emergencial no Brasil: 1) Vacina Covisheld produzida pela Astrazeneca/Oxford em parceria FIOCRUZ) e 2) Vacina Coronavac produzida pela Sinovac (parceria Instituto Butantan)

According to information from the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), four vaccines against COVID-19 are being tested in Brazil, all of them for age aged 18 years or older; pfizer vaccine that includes the age group greater than or equal to 16 years. Regarding the use of such vaccines, until January 18, 2021 (last available update), two vaccines are approved for emergency use in Brazil: 1) Covisheld vaccine produced by Astrazeneca/Oxford in fiocruz partnership) and 2) Coronavac vaccine produced by Sinovac (Butantan Institute partnership)

Strategic spatiotemporal vaccine distribution increases the survival rate in an infectious disease like Covid-19.

Present hopes to conquer the Covid-19 epidemic are largely based on the expectation of a rapid availability of vaccines. However, once vaccine production starts, it will probably take time before there is enough vaccine for everyone, evoking the question how to distribute it best. While present vaccination guidelines largely focus on individual-based factors, i.e. on the question to whom vaccines should be provided first, e.g. to risk groups or to individuals with a strong social-mixing tendency, here we ask if a strategic spatiotemporal distribution of vaccines, e.g. to prioritize certain cities, can help to increase the overall survival rate of a population subject to an epidemic disease. To this end, we propose a strategy for the distribution of vaccines in time and space, which sequentially prioritizes regions with the most new cases of infection during a certain time frame and compare it with the standard practice of distributing vaccines demographically. Using a simple statistical model we find that, for a locally well-mixed population, the proposed strategy strongly reduces the number of deaths (by about a factor of two for basic reproduction numbers of [Formula: see text] and by about 35% for [Formula: see text]). The proposed vaccine distribution strategy establishes the idea that prioritizing individuals not only regarding individual factors, such as their risk of spreading the disease, but also according to the region in which they live can help saving lives. The suggested vaccine distribution strategy can be tested in more detailed models in the future and might inspire discussions regarding the importance of spatiotemporal distribution rules for vaccination guidelines.

Actualización sobre la pandemia COVID-19 en la Región de las Américas, preparación para el COVAX y acceso equitativo a las vacunas contra la COVID-19 / Update on the COVID-19 pandemic in the Region of the Americas, preparedness for COVAX and equitable access to vaccines against COVID-19

Entre el 21 de enero y el 2 de diciembre del 2020,1 los 54 países y territorios de la Región de las Américas notificaron en total 27.145.021 casos confirmados por laboratorio de infección por el SARS-CoV-2 y 732.329 muertes. Treinta y ocho de estos países y territorios con datos disponibles desglosados por edad y sexo notificaron 89% de los casos (24.035.426) y 56,5% de las muertes (413.869). En este grupo de países y territorios, 72% de los casos fueron en personas de 20 a 59 años, y 78% de las muertes notificadas fueron personas de 60 años o más. Si bien no hay diferencia en la proporción de casos por sexo, se observa una mayor tasa de mortalidad en los hombres, que representan 59% del total de muertes