Immunization

Vaccine administration provides benefits at the patient and public health levels, and pharmacists are critical members of health care teams that provide these vital biologic medications.

Senate Bill 219 will also allow pharmacists to independently administer influenza and COVID-19 tests waived by the clinical laboratory improvement amendments.

While monitoring influenza virus resistance as it develops, researchers are prioritizing further investigations to decrease the risk of resistant strains.

Best practices to train staff and team members to engage patients and to ease the new vaccine offerings into the workflow are also discussed.

Having 2 drug classes available for influenza is significant, but it is important to investigate other treatments prior to the pandemic, a new study indicates.

Pediatric and maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines are being studied to reduce the burden of RSV, and more research is needed to understand whether this can reduce wheeze and asthma.

FDA grants updated Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines with emergency use authorization to target currently circulating variants of the virus.

With the emergence of BA.2.86, and the growing prevalence of EG.5 and FL1.5.1, there is a need for updated vaccines against COVID-19 to help decrease severe disease and hospitalizations.

With new vaccines expected for both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza, educate patients on the ongoing need for immunizations

Cases of certain HPV-related high-grade disease were not found in the 10-year follow up for girls and boys who received 3 doses of the Gardasil 9 injection.

Understanding the virus protein’s insertion mechanisms can be useful in creating new COVID-19 vaccine targets.

Pharmacists play a critical role in educating patients on RSV prevention, how to recognize early symptoms, and when to seek medical help.

Pharmacists can play a crucial role in educating parents and helping remind them about the childhood vaccine schedule, which can be quite complex.

The pharmacy is no longer considered to offer full service (or to be financially sustainable) without a robust vaccination practice.

Despite study findings showing that 1 in 5 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 developed persistent high blood pressure, many had underlying risk factors.

Nirsevimab (Beyfortus) is the first respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) preventative drug to be approved by the FDA, and can protect infants through their first RSV season for up to 5 months.

Investigators from Griffith University stated that technology has helped the development of vaccines that are safe to use and induce strong immune responses against Strep A.

This technique may be applied to transdermal applications, such as shot-free vaccines.

UB-311 has shown to be well-tolerated with a durable antibody response in a previous phase 1 trial, and new results from a phase 2a study support its continued development.

The approach allows investigators to assess post-vaccine response in immunocompromised patients who have received antibody prophylaxis.

The findings of the study demonstrate the need for preventive interventions for all infants in order to reduce the burden of severe illness from respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract infections.

A COVID-19 booster dose increased both maternal and cord blood binding and neutralizing antibody levels against virus strains, including Omicron BA.1.

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Approximately 57% of individuals who were shown a flowchart of the FDA vaccine approval process were very or somewhat likely to recommend a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine to a pregnant family member or friend compared to only 40% of those who were not shown the process.

A bit of preparation can set children up for success and reduce the stress of this busy time.

Compared to the BNT162b2 vaccine, the mRNA-1273 vaccine was associated with a lower risk of adverse events, which investigators speculate was due to interrelated safety and efficacy.

CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 10 to 0 to recommend the routine use of nirsevimab-alip (Beyfortus; Sanofi and AstraZeneca) for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract disease in newborns and infants.

Ervebo was found to be 100% effective after vaccination in preventing the onset of Ebola virus symptoms after more than 10 days.

Study shows maternal vaccination with Pfizer’s hexavalent capsular polysaccharide conjugate vaccine may protect infants against Group B Streptococcus.

If approved, the V116 vaccine would be the first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine specifically designed for adults.