Abram L. Wagner

The Impact of Residency and Urbanicity on Haemophilus influenzae Type b and Pneumococcal Immunization in Shanghai Children: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) are relatively expensive, newly introduced vaccines in China. This study evaluates the impact of residency and urbanicity on Hib vaccine and PCV coverage for children aged 2 to 7 years living in Shanghai, China, in August 2012. Methods In this exploratory cohort study, a sample of children aged 2 to 7 years, all of whom were eligible to have received the complete series of Hib vaccine and PCV, was obtained from the Shanghai Immunization Program Information System. Three measures of vaccination coverage for Hib vaccine and PCV were examined: dose 1 coverage, series completion, and timeliness of dose 1 vaccination. Multivariable binomial regression was used to estimate the difference in vaccination coverage between locals and the floating population. Results Dose 1 coverage was 50.9% for Hib vaccine and 11.4% for PCV for the 28,141 abstracted pediatric records. For both vaccines, dose 1 coverage was higher in locals than in the floating population. The disparity in coverage between locals and the floating population was greater in suburban areas than urban areas. Of all children who received dose 1, 79.7% completed the Hib vaccine series, and 91.3% completed the PCV series. Timely dose 1 coverage was 8.2% for Hib vaccine and 0.5% for PCV. Conclusion Low vaccination coverage and extremely low levels of timely dose 1 vaccination indicate that current vaccination efforts are inadequate to reduce the burden of Hib and pneumococcal disease among Chinese children, especially infants. Government funding of the Hib vaccine and PCV through the Expanded Program on Immunization would increase uptake and could also ensure that improvement in the timeliness of administration and series completion is targeted for all demographic groups.

A population profile of measles susceptibility in Tianjin, China.

BACKGROUND Measles is a highly infectious illness requiring herd immunity of 95% to interrupt transmission. Measles is targeted for elimination in China, which has not reached elimination goals despite high vaccination coverage. We developed a population profile of measles immunity among residents aged 0-49 years in Tianjin, China. METHODS Participants were either from community population registers or community immunization records. Measles IgG antibody status was assessed using dried blood spots. We examined the association between measles IgG antibody status and independent variables including urbanicity, sex, vaccination, measles history, and age. RESULTS 2818 people were enrolled. The proportion measles IgG negative increased from 50.7% for infants aged 1 month to 98.3% for those aged 7 months. After 8 months, the age of vaccination eligibility, the proportion of infants and children measles IgG negative decreased. Overall, 7.8% of participants 9 months of age or older lacked measles immunity including over 10% of those 20-39 years. Age and vaccination status were significantly associated with measles IgG status in the multivariable model. The odds of positive IgG status were 0.337 times as high for unvaccinated compared to vaccinated (95% CI: 0.217, 0.524). CONCLUSIONS The proportion of persons in Tianjin, China immune to measles was lower than herd immunity threshold with less than 90% of people aged 20-39 years demonstrating protection. Immunization programs in Tianjin have been successful in vaccinating younger age groups although high immunization coverage in infants and children alone would not provide protective herd immunity, given the large proportion of non-immune adults.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of pneumococcal vaccination for infants in China

BACKGROUND Although China has a high burden of pneumococcal disease among young children, the government does not administer publicly-funded pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) through its Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI). We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of publicly-funded PCV-7, PCV-10, and PCV-13 vaccination programs for infants in China. METHODS Using a Markov model, we simulated a cohort of 16 million Chinese infants to estimate the impact of PCV-7, PCV-10, and PCV-13 vaccination programs from a societal perspective. We extrapolated health states to estimate the effects of the programs over the course of a lifetime of 75years. Parameters in the model were derived from a review of the literature. RESULTS We found that PCV-7, PCV-10, and PCV-13 vaccination programs would be cost-effective compared to no vaccination. However, PCV-13 had the lowest incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (

Influenza vaccination of adults with and without high-risk health conditions in China

11,464/QALY vs

The impact of supplementary immunization activities on the epidemiology of measles in Tianjin, China.

16,664/QALY for PCV-10 and

Application of the revised WHO causality assessment protocol for adverse events following immunization in India

18,224/QALY for PCV-7) due to a reduction in overall costs. Our sensitivity analysis revealed that the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were most sensitive to the utility of acute otitis media, the cost of PCV-13, and the incidence of pneumonia and acute otitis media. CONCLUSIONS The Chinese government should take steps to reduce the burden of pneumococcal diseases among young children through the inclusion of a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in its EPI. Although all vaccinations would be cost-effective, PCV-13 would save more costs to the healthcare system and would be the preferred strategy.

On-time Measles and Pneumococcal Vaccination of Shanghai Children: The Impact of Individual-level and Neighborhood-level Factors

Background The World Health Organization recommends the elderly and persons with certain chronic diseases to receive an annual influenza vaccine and to be prioritized for immunization against pandemic influenza, because they are at greater risk for health complications. This paper aims to compare influenza vaccination coverage between adults in China with and without high-risk health conditions. Methods Data were from the cross-sectional China General Social Survey, 2010. Adults were interviewed about their health, including whether they had been vaccinated against either seasonal or pandemic influenza within the past year. A multivariable logistic regression model estimated the adjusted odds of any influenza vaccination in high-risk groups compared with low-risk groups. Results Only 10.5% (372/3592) of Chinese adults were vaccinated against influenza. In a multivariable regression model, there was no significant difference in influenza vaccine uptake between those with and without high-risk health conditions. However, healthcare attitudes and behaviours were significantly associated with vaccine uptake. Conclusions Influenza vaccination coverage is extremely low in Chinese adults who are elderly and have chronic diseases. These two groups are at greatest risk for influenza-related morbidity and mortality and should be targets of programmes to increase positive attitudes towards vaccination and decrease barriers to uptake.

Changing data practices for community health workers: Introducing digital data collection in West Bengal, India

OBJECTIVES China has repeatedly used supplemental immunization activities (SIAs) to work towards measles elimination, but it is unknown if the SIAs are reaching non-locals - migrants from rural to urban areas. This study characterized temporal trends in measles incidence by local and non-local residency and evaluated the impact of SIAs on measles incidence in Tianjin, China. METHODS Daily measles case-counts were tabulated separately by residency. These two datasets were combined so that each day had two observations. Poisson regression was conducted using generalized estimating equations with an exchangeable working correlation structure to estimate rate ratios (RRs). RESULTS There were 12465 measles cases in Tianjin over the 10-year period. The rate of measles was higher in non-locals than locals before the 2008 SIA (RR 3.60, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.27-3.96), but this attenuated to a RR of 1.22 between the 2008 and 2010 SIAs (95% CI 1.02-1.45). Following the 2010 SIA, non-locals had a lower rate of measles (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.69-0.87). CONCLUSIONS The disparity in measles incidence between locals and non-locals was reduced following two SIAs. Sustained public health interventions will be needed to maintain low measles incidence among non-locals given the ongoing migration of people throughout China.

Parents’ concerns about vaccine scheduling in Shanghai, China

BACKGROUND In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) and CIOMS introduced a revised Causality Assessment Protocol (CAP) for Adverse Events following Immunization (AEFI). India is one of the first countries to adopt the revised CAP. This study describes the application of the revised CAP in India. METHODS We describe use of CAP by Indias AEFI surveillance program to assess reported AEFIs. Using publicly available results of causality assessment for reported AEFIs, we describe the results by demographic characteristics and review the trends for the results of the causality assessment. RESULTS A total of 771 reports of AEFI between January 2012 and January 2015, completed causality review by August 2016. The cases were reported as belonging to a cluster (54%; n=302), hospitalized or requiring hospitalization (41%; n=270), death (25%; n=195), or resulting in disability (0.4%; n=3). The most common combinations of vaccines leading to report of an AEFI were DTwP, Hepatitis B, and OPV (14%; n=106), followed by Pentavalent and OPV (13%; n=103), and JE vaccine (13%; n=101). Using the WHO Algorithm, most AEFI reports (89%, n=683) were classifiable. Classifiable AEFI reports included those with a consistent causal association (53%; n=407), an inconsistent causal association (29%; n=226) or were indeterminate causal association with implicated vaccine(s) or vaccination process (6.5%; n=50) (Fig. 1); 88 reports remained unclassifiable. CONCLUSIONS The revised CAP was informative and useful in classifying most of the reviewed AEFIs in India. Unclassifiable reports could be minimized with more complete information from health records. Improvements in causality assessment, and standardization in reporting between countries, can improve public confidence in vaccine system performance and identify important vaccine safety signals.

Risk Factors During Pregnancy and Early Childhood in Rural West Bengal, India: A Feasibility Study Implemented via Trained Community Health Workers Using Mobile Data Collection Devices

Background: Measles-containing vaccines (MCVs) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) can prevent a large proportion of infant deaths and are recommended by international organizations for inclusion in pediatric immunization schedules. In China, MCV but not PCV is publically funded and access to vaccination may be limited among nonlocals, who are rural migrants to cities. In this study, we estimate the proportion of Shanghai children with on-time MCV and PCV administration, compare vaccination in nonlocals versus locals and assess the impact of township-level characteristics on vaccination outcomes. Methods: Data from children in the Shanghai Immunization Program Information System were linked to township-level data from the 2010 China Census. We used generalized estimating equations with logistic regression models to assess the impact of residency and township-level predictors on on-time MCV and PCV administration. Results: Nonlocals had lower vaccination levels than locals. Compared with locals, nonlocals had 0.50 times the odds of MCV dose 1 by 9 months [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.47, 0.53], 0.42 times the odds of MCV dose 2 by 24 months (95% CI: 0.39, 0.45), 0.37 times the odds of PCV by 9 months of age (95% CI: 0.33, 0.42) and 0.41 times the odds of PCV by 24 months of age (95% CI: 0.37, 0.45). Overall, children had less on-time MCV and PCV administration in nonlocal-majority than local-majority townships. Conclusions: Late vaccination negatively impacts disease control efforts in Shanghai. Nonlocals, particularly those living in nonlocal-majority townships, should especially be targeted for vaccination in order to improve disease control efforts in Shanghai.