Letter from the editor

Abstract

We are delighted to present, in this issue of Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, a Special Focus on Covid-19 vaccines and vaccination. It is the second such feature devoted to the novel coronavirus since the pandemic started in early 2020 (the first one is in volume 16 issue 12). The Special Focus highlights the unprecedented speed of vaccine development and deployment around the world to fight a newly emergent pathogen as well as numerous issues around its use in the field and willingness of people to be vaccinated with it. This SF includes a commentary on the disparities in vaccine uptake in US (Szilagyi, p 3262), five reviews of the recommendations for dermatologists during the pandemic (Simonetti, p 3268), global landscape of vaccine development (Huang, p 3276), the need of Covid-19 vaccines for cancer patients (He, p 3281), pros and cons of early approvals (Rahman, p 3288), and the role of host immune responses in infection and vaccination outcomes (Alturaiki, p 3297); research reports on immunogenicity of inactivated vaccines (Li, p 3310), complications to vaccination against variants due to ‘original antigenic sin’ (Vashishtha, p 3314), the potential of measles vaccines to fight Covid-19 (Gujar, p 3316), parental acceptability of vaccination of children (Wang, p), barriers to vaccination in India (Panda, p 3333), Saudi Arabia (Alshahrani, p 3338), Italy (Fedele, p 3348), among US mothers (Walker, p 3355), and in Pakistan (Chaudhary, p 3365), attitudes among pregnant women (Geoghegan, p 3371) and among Turkish healthcare workers (Oruç, p 3377), relationship of acceptance with life satisfaction and religiousness (Kilic, p 3384), vaccine knowledge and attitudes in Kazakhstan (Issanov, p 3394), among Greek teachers (Gkentzi, p 3401) and French general practitioners (Verger, p 3408), determinants of acceptance among Chinese students (Fan, p 3413), in France (Alleaume, p 3421), in different occupational risk groups (Jiang, p 3433), and among adults in Puerto Rico (López-Cepero, p 3441), effect of visual communication intervention (Ugwuoke, p 3450), impact of the pandemic on the uptake of routine vaccines (Kara, p 3457), and the demand for Covid-19 vaccines in Kenya (Carpio, p 3463); commentaries on the opportunities brought about by the pandemic to promote influenza and pneumococcal vaccines (Loubet, p 3472), rational prioritization of Covid-19 vaccines (BurgosSalcedo, p 3474) and a temporary vaccination clinic in China (Jin, p 3478); case reports on acute relapse of multiple sclerosis following vaccination in a rituximab-treated patient (Etemadifar, p 3481) and cord-blood antibody following maternal vaccination (Soysal, p 3484); and Letters to the Editor on vaccine certificates for domestic traveling (Choudhary, p 3487), vaccine effectiveness against emerging strains (Abdalla, p 3489; Sharun, p 3491), global Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy (Dhama, p 3495) and adenovirus infection in children of Sputnik V vaccinees (Mehraeen, p 3500). Further in this issue is the Immunotherapy section featuring a review of oncolytic virotherapy of relapsed Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Addou, p 3502), early clinical trial of autologous dendritic-cell vaccine for acute myeloid leukemia (Chevallier, p 3511), and preclinical studies of a vaccine combination against morphine use disorder (Barbosa-Mendez, p 3515), and a CD8+ T-cell-inducing nanoparticle vaccine for cervical cancer (Zhang, p 3529). The Technology section presents a review of vaccine adjuvants (Guerrero Manriquez, p 3539) and a commentary on the correlation between disease severity and antibody responses to some infectious diseases (Freund, p 3551). Six HPV articles include a systematic review of immunogenicity of extended vaccine regimens (Collins-Fairclough, p 3554), analysis of the impact of vaccination on pregnancy outcomes (Yuill, p 3562), a study of implementing vaccination quality improvement programs (Grabert, p 3577), a report on the potential impact of vaccine information exposure on social media and intentions to be vaccinated (Galvin, p 3587), and two surveys among university students, of vaccine preferences and willingness to pay (Wang, p 3595) and on vaccine knowledge and coverage (Ma, p 3603). The Rotavirus segment introduces assessment of the impact of vaccination on the G9P[8] strain during an outbreak (Kawata, p 3613), a Letter to the Editor on a case of infection by a G8P[8] strain (Lu, p 3619), a review of 15 years of vaccination in Mexico (Guzman-Holst, p 3623), and a Letter to the Editor on vaccination patterns in Italy (Carias, p 3638) with a Response Letter (Marchetti, p 3641). Three research articles on Influenza investigate projected impact of plant-derived vaccines (Ramjee, p 3643), immunogenicity and safety of inactivated quadrivalent vaccines (Liang, p 3652), and a program to promote vaccine uptake among medical students (Saro-Buendía, p 3662). The Pneumococcal section presents a systematic review of the burden of disease in southern Europe (Navarro-Torné, p 3670) and serotype-specific antibody profiling in patients with asplenia (Takeshita, p 3687). Two Meningococcal articles report on the coverage of MenB vaccination in Australia (de Oliveira Costa, p 3692) and risk factors for carriage in Ireland (Drew, p 3702). The Hepatitis section includes a review of childhood HepA vaccination (Badur, p 3710) and analysis of HepB sero-epidemiology in young Chinese (Sun, p 3729). Four articles on Licensed Vaccines highlight the potential impact of adjuvanted recombinant zoster vaccination in Beijing (Lee, p 3735), hidden varicella burden in endemic countries (Gillard, p 3747), burden of rubella among hospitalized females in India (Sahoo, p 3757), and US obstetriciansgynecologists’ habits regarding maternal vaccination (Saini, p 3761). The Novel Vaccines segment features reviews of immunogenicity and safety of Ebola vaccines (Diallo, p 3771), Acinetobacter baumannii vaccine development (Mat Rahim, p 3784), and the epidemiology and management of scrub typhus in China (Musa, p 3795), and a report on the mechanism of vaccine-enhanced disease following RSV vaccination (Park, p 3806). Finally we are happy to present a Public Health article investigating the impact of tailored information on uptake in Nigeria (Sato, p 3818), a Clinical analysis of vaccine adverse events in China (Pan, p 3823), and an Acceptance report on delayed vaccination of toddlers in Ethiopia (Gebremeskel, p 3831). Our monthly News, Policy and Profiles (NP&P) track offers a selection of the latest news in the field of vaccines and immunotherapeutics. In this section we also regularly publish opinion pieces on timely, interesting and controversial topics related to vaccines and immunotherapeutics, profiles of companies and organizations, as well as portraits of distinguished scientists in our field. Please contact Acquisitions Editor Adam Weiss ([email protected]) with your ideas for commentaries, opinion pieces, profiles and portraits. Your suggestions for and contributions to our N&P&P track are always welcome!