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In remote communities of northern Australia, First Nations children with hearing loss are disproportionately at risk of poor school readiness and performance compared to their peers with no hearing loss. The aim of this trial is to prevent early childhood persisting otitis media (OM), associated hearing loss and developmental delay.
To assess potential benefits and direct healthcare cost savings with expansion of an existing childhood influenza immunisation program, we developed a dynamic transmission model for the state of Western Australia, evaluating increasing coverage in children < 5 years and routinely immunising school-aged children.
The eradication of smallpox is considered one of the greatest achievements of humankind, thanks to vaccination. The widespread availability of childhood vaccines has substantially reduced childhood morbidity and mortality. Devastating infections, such as polio, have almost disappeared due to vaccination. In 2021, it was estimated that vaccination against ten selected pathogens will have averted 69 million deaths between 2000 and 2030. Increases in vaccine coverage and introduction of additional vaccines should reduce lifetime mortality by 72% in the 2019 birth cohort. However, access to vaccines that prevent life-threatening and disabling infectious diseases remains unequal.
The availability of COVID-19 vaccines promised a reduction in the severity of disease and relief from the strict public health and social measures (PHSMs) imposed in many countries to limit spread and burden of COVID-19. We were asked to define vaccine coverage thresholds for Australia's transition to easing restrictions and reopening international borders.
Atopic diseases are the most common chronic conditions of childhood. The apparent rise in food anaphylaxis in young children over the past three decades is of particular concern, owing to the lack of proven prevention strategies other than the timely introduction of peanut and egg.
The diversity of B cell subsets and their contribution to vaccine-induced immunity in humans are not well elucidated but hold important implications for rational vaccine design. Prior studies demonstrate that B cell subsets distinguished by immunoglobulin (Ig) isotype expression exhibit divergent activation-induced fates. Here, the antigen-specific B cell response to tetanus toxoid (TTd) booster vaccination was examined in healthy adults, using a dual-TTd tetramer staining flow cytometry protocol.
Influenza immunisation is a highly cost-effective public health intervention. Despite a comprehensive National Immunisation Program, influenza vaccination in children and adolescents with special risk medical conditions (SRMCs) is suboptimal. Flutext-4U is an innovative, multi-component strategy targeting paediatric hospitals, general practice and parents of children and adolescents with SRMC.
Vaccination is the most effective method of protecting people from invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). Of all the capsular groups, B is the most common cause of invasive meningococcal disease in many parts of the world. Despite this, adolescent meningococcal B vaccine programs have not been implemented globally, partly due to the lack of evidence for herd immunity afforded by meningococcal B vaccines.
Latest news & events at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines & Infectious Diseases.
Clinical Professor Tobias Strunk, Dr Andrew Currie and their Neonatal Infection and Immunity Team have become the newest members of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases.