Dear reader,
In this issue of Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, we are happy to publish the first part of a Special Focus on Maternal Immunization. This two-part feature, with Part 2 to follow later this year, presents research on an intensely debated topic: whether it is safe and beneficial to vaccinate infants, the most vulnerable population, indirectly through immunizing their mothers. Vaccines against pertussis, influenza, hepatitis, HPV and other diseases are tested for safety and efficacy in pregnant women with the hope of giving newborn infants a head start in preventing viral and bacterial infections. Important ethical, health-economics and policy issues have arisen, and we hope that this timely Special Focus will provide original insights and a resource for future directions.
Part 1 of the Special Focus contains 8 articles, including two literature reviews on general benefits of maternal immunization for mothers and infants, increasing vaccine uptake and incorporation of vaccination into standard antenatal care (Marshall, p 848, and MacDougall, p 857), research article on how to analyze the role of obstetricians / gynecologists in vaccinating pregnant women (O'Leary, p 866), two surveys revealing a positive attitude of pregnant women to Tdap vaccine (Dempsey, p 872, and MacDougall, p 879), a report on the impact of maternal tetanus toxoid (TT) vaccine on the outcome of tetanus and pertussis vaccination of infants (Ahmad, p 886), a review focusing on hepatitis vaccination in pregnancy (Zhao, p 894), and a commentary questioning current method for determining rubella immunity (Charlton, p 903).
The Licensed Vaccines section introduces a review of how host genetics may influence the outcome of vaccination, with a prospect of personalized vaccination strategies (Linnik, p 907), reports on immune correlates (Jin, p 916) and safety (Zhang, p 922) of EV71 vaccination, analysis of immunization practices for children with malignancies in Canada (Top, p 931), a case report of persistence of antibodies to Yellow Fever virus after cord blood stem cell transplant (Avelino-Silva, p 937), two studies conducted in India: efficacy and safety of a Vi polysaccharide-TT conjugate vaccine in children (Mitra, p 939) and safety of DTwP-HepB-Hib vaccine in infants and toddlers (Gandhi, p 946), and a commentary on mumps and pertussis resurgence (Sabbe, p 955).
Five articles on Novel Vaccines discuss the development of novel pediatric tuberculosis vaccines (Pang, p 960), the prevalence of RSV-related hospitalizations in U.S. pre-term infants (DeVincenzo, p 971), a therapeutic nanoparticle vaccine against Trypanosoma cruzi (Barry, p 976), recombinant immune complexes as versatile vaccines (Mason, p 988), and transdermal immunization against Plasmodium falciparum (Tyagi, p 990).
The Influenza section presents a comprehensive review of the epidemiology and disease burden in Europe (Tafalla, p 993), analysis of a potential link between mineral levels in blood plasma and vaccine efficacy (Kaynar, p 1003), preclinical evaluation of immunogenicity of emulsion-adjuvanted H5N1 vaccine (Stavaru, p 1009), assessment of the tolerability of two pandemic vaccine doses with prior seasonal vaccination (van der Maas, p 1027), and a Letter describing a rare case of subacute thyroiditis following vaccination (Altay, p 1033).
Two Rotavirus-focused articles analyze the impact of vaccination on hospitalization in Spain (Giménez Sánchez, p 1035) and on number of cases in England (Inns, p 1040). We present an assessment of U.S. Public Health programs to increase adult immunization (Woods, p 1045), a commentary on the impact of vaccination on Meningococcal epidemiology (Stefanelli, p 1051), two reviews on vaccine Delivery: PLGA particulate systems (Silva, p 1056) and systemic immunization (Su, p 1070), a report on the development of a mobile app designed to improve awareness and prevention of pneumococcal disease (Panatto, p 1080), and a Letter describing a case of systemic listeriosis after administration of the axalimogene filolisbac therapeutic vaccine (Sacco, p 1085).
Our monthly News, Policy and Profiles (NP&P) track offers a selection of the latest news in the field of vaccines and immunotherapeutics. In this section we also regularly publish opinion pieces on timely, interesting and controversial topics related to vaccines and immunotherapeutics, profiles of companies and organizations, as well as portraits of distinguished scientists in our field. Please contact Acquisitions Editor Adam Weiss ( [email protected]) with your ideas for commentaries, opinion pieces, profiles and portraits. Your suggestions for and contributions to our N&P&P track are always welcome!
Sincerely, Ronald Ellis, PhD Editor-in-Chief Adam Weiss Acquisitions Editor