https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5319-9493
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ABSTRACT
Shingrix (Recombinant zoster vaccine, RZV) was approved in October 2017 in the United States (US) for the prevention of herpes zoster in adults aged 50 years and older. The vaccine is administered in two doses, with the second dose administration recommended between two and six months after the first dose. Examination of uptake and series completion is important to ensure appropriate use, especially at the time of vaccine introduction. This report provides demographic characteristics of patients receiving RZV between October 2017 and September 2019, first- and second-dose uptake, and a cumulative estimation of second-dose completion by month for US adults aged 50 years and older. Monthly uptake increased rapidly since October 2017; overall, 7,097,441 first doses of RZV were administered along with 4,277,636 second doses during the observed timeframe. Among people with an observed first-dose administration, 70% and 80% completed the two-dose series within six and 12 months post initial dose, respectively. This evidence suggests that RZV has rapidly been adopted by a large population in the US and most are following manufacturer or policy recommendations regarding series completion. Further analyses are needed to explore potential patient, provider, and policy-relevant characteristics associated with second-dose completion that could serve as targets for further improvement.
Abbreviations
| ACIP | = | Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices |
| HZ | = | Herpes zoster |
| VZV | = | Varicella zoster virus |
| RZV | = | Recombinant zoster vaccine |
| PHN | = | Postherpetic neuralgia |
| US | = | United States |
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank GSK teams, especially Desmond Curran, John Diaz-Decaro, Jessica K. DeMartino and Philip Watson for impactful discussions and insights about the manuscript content. The authors would like to thank Business & Decision Life Sciences platform for editorial assistance and manuscript coordination, on behalf of GSK. Katrin Spiegel provided medical writing support and Gauhar Masgutova coordinated manuscript development and editorial support.
Author contributorship
BJP, LIG, and POB conceived and designed the study; CCC, CBM and KS acquired or generated the data; and BJP, CCC, CBM, LIG, KS and POB analyzed and/or interpreted the data. All authors participated in the development of this manuscript and in its critical review with important intellectual contributions. All authors had full access to the data and gave approval before submission. All authors agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. The work described was carried out in accordance to ICMJE recommendations for conduct, reporting, editing and publishing of scholarly work in medical journals. The corresponding author had responsibility to submit the final manuscript for publication.
Disclosure
BJP, LIG, and POB were employees of the GSK group of companies and held shares in the GSK group of companies. BJP is currently an employee of Janssen Global Services. POB is currently an employee of Moderna, Inc. and holds shares in Moderna, Inc. LIG is currently an employee of AstraZeneca and holds shares in AstraZeneca. CCC, CBM, and KS are employees of IQVIA, which was contracted by the GSK group of companies for the conduct of this study. CBM reports holding shares in Pfizer. The authors declare no other financial and non-financial relationships and activities.
Trademark
Shingrix is a trademark owned by or licensed to the GSK group of companies.