Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic, we expanded our Hospital-in-the-Home (HITH) programme to increase capacity and manage COVID-19-positive children. We aimed to assess impact on overall HITH activity and COVID-19-positive outcomes.
Design: Prospective comparative cohort study.
Background: Three hexavalent (DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB) vaccines are licensed in Europe, only one of which (Vaxelis, Hex-V), uses a meningococcal outer membrane protein complex as a carrier protein for Hemophilus influenza type b (Hib), creating potential interactions with the meningococcal vaccine 4CMenB.
Methods: In this single-center open-label randomized trial, infants were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive Hex-V or an alternative hexavalent vaccine (Infanrix-Hexa, Hex-IH) at 2, 3, and 4 months with 4CMenB (2, 4, and 12 months) in the UK routine immunization schedule. The primary outcome was noninferiority of geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) of anti-PRP (Hib) IgG at 5 months of age.
Background: Monitoring changes in pharyngeal carriage of pneumococcus in children following 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) introduction in the United Kingdom in 2010 informs understanding of patterns of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) incidence.
Methods: Nasopharyngeal swabs from healthy children vaccinated with PCV13 according to schedule (2, 4, and 12 months) were cultured and serotyped. Results for children aged 13-48 months were compared between 2014-2015 and 2017-2019 and with children aged 6-12 months (2017-2020).