Abstract
The 1st International Neonatal and Maternal Immunization Symposium was held in Antalya, Turkey from 26 to 28 March 2010. Delegates who attended ranged from obstetricians and pediatricians to infectious diseases and immunization specialists. Topics covered included maternal and neonatal immunology, vaccine-specific responses in neonates and pregnant women, as well as vaccine safety and future vaccine strategies. Important new and emerging themes included: first, the idea that the neonatal immune system is not immature but is appropriate for the specific age and develops over time by as yet not well defined regulatory processes; second, that neonatal mucosal immunity is important and not well defined; third, that maternal pneumococcal immunization may be protective against pneumococcal disease in early infancy; and fourth, that monovalent H1N1 2009 influenza vaccine is safe and immunogenic in pregnant women.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
Nicholas Wood was a recipient of the European Clinical Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECSMID) travel grant to attend the symposium. The 1st International Neonatal and Maternal Immunization Symposium was supported by the European Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID), the European Clinical Society for Microbiology and infectious Diseases (ECSMID) and the Turkish Pediatric Society. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.