Publications by authors named "Benita Ukkonen"
Article Synopsis
- The study evaluates a new meningococcal vaccine (MenABCWY) that combines components of the existing MenB vaccine (4CMenB) and the MenACWY vaccine, aiming to provide broad immunization against various meningococcal strains and ease vaccination schedules.
- Conducted as a phase 3 randomized trial across multiple countries, healthy participants aged 10-25 were assigned to receive different vaccine schedules to assess safety, immune response, and consistency of vaccine lots.
- The trial primarily focused on the immune response to MenB strains, comparing MenABCWY's effectiveness to 4CMenB and evaluating the consistency of immune responses among different production lots of the vaccines.
Article Synopsis
- Meningococcal serogroup B (MenB) vaccination with the 4CMenB vaccine was tested for its effectiveness and safety among 3,651 healthy participants aged 10 to 25, using different dosing schedules (0-2, 0-6, and 0-2-6 months).
- The study measured the immune response through two methods: a test-based approach showing high immune breadth (over 78%) and a responder-based approach indicating a significant percentage of participants achieved strong responses (up to 93.4% for the 0-2-6 schedule).
- The results showed no major differences in effectiveness across the dosing schedules, confirming that the simpler 2-dose regimen (0-2)
In this ongoing study, substantially increased ancestral SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing responses were observed 1 month after a third 10-µg BNT162b2 dose given to 5 to 11-year olds versus neutralizing responses post-dose 2. After dose 3, increased neutralizing responses against Omicron BA.1 and BA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Safe and effective vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) are urgently needed in young children.
Methods: We conducted a phase 1 dose-finding study and are conducting an ongoing phase 2-3 safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy trial of the BNT162b2 vaccine in healthy children 6 months to 11 years of age. We present results for children 6 months to less than 2 years of age and those 2 to 4 years of age through the data-cutoff dates (April 29, 2022, for safety and immunogenicity and June 17, 2022, for efficacy).
Article Synopsis
- This study examines the long-term effectiveness and immune responses of the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) in adults aged 50 and older, focusing on data collected 5 to 7 years after vaccination.
- Analysis included 7,413 participants, revealing a sustained efficacy rate against herpes zoster (HZ) of approximately 84% to 90% from both the start of follow-up and from the original trials, with stable results over the years.
- Immune responses, measured by antibody concentrations and specific T-cell frequencies, showed significant persistence, indicating that the benefits of RZV for older adults last at least 7 years post-vaccination.
Booster doses of meningococcal conjugate vaccines induce long-term protection against invasive meningococcal disease. We evaluated the immunogenicity and safety of a booster dose of MenACYW-TT in pre-school children who were primed 3 years earlier with MenACYW-TT or MCV4-TT (Nimenrix®). In this Phase III, open-label, multi-center study (NCT03476135), children (4-5 years old), who received a primary dose of MenACYW-TT or MCV4-TT as toddlers in a previous study, received a booster dose of MenACYW-TT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF