Dear reader,
This issue of Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics starts with eight articles on Pneumococcal vaccines.
The first trio constitute a Special Feature for the new 15-valent conjugate vaccine V114 that has entered Phase 3 clinical development – a set of early- to mid-stage clinical trials investigating the safety and immunogenicity of V114 compared to PCV-13 in older adults (Stacey, p 530 & Peterson, p 540) and an optimal dose and formulation in healthy infants (Rupp, p 549).
The next trio consists of a comparison model of the sustained use of 10- and 13-valent vaccines in Mexico (Wasserman, p 560) with an associated Letter to the Editor (Gómez, p 570) and a Response Letter (Wasserman, p 572).
Finally, a study looks at antibody persistence after sequential administration of PCV-13 and PPV-23 (Schmoele-Thoma, p 575), and a commentary analyzes decision-making in vaccination of adults (McLaughlin, p 584).
The Immunotherapy section presents a product review of the bispecific antibody blinatumomab for the treatment of B-cell cancers (Burt, p 594), a review of EBV status in colorectal cancer (Bedri, p 603), characterization of Pleurotus ferulae polysaccharides as adjuvants for a therapeutic DC-based HPV vaccine (Li, p 611), and a commentary on targeting of the transcription factor FoxP3 for antitumor T-cell responses (Mousaviniri, p 620).
We introduce six articles on Acceptance: analysis of a drop in vaccine confidence in the Philippines following the Dengvaxia scandal (Larson, p 625) with an associated Letter to the Editor (Dans, p 628) and a Response Letter (Larson, p 630), a study of how taking a course improves empathy in vaccine counselling by physicians and nurses (Maurici, p 631), a survey concluding that limitations in logistics and infrastructure are the main obstacles for physicians to administer adult vaccines (Equils, p 637), and a Letter to the Editor on the challenges that low vaccine coverage in school children poses to pediatric cancer patients (Tafuri, p 643).
The Licensed Vaccines section features a review on the global impact of varicella vaccination programs (Varela, p 645), antibody persistence analysis after hexavalent combination prime and booster vaccination in infancy (Madhi, p 658), a report on any possible association of anthrax, influenza or smallpox vaccines with atrial fibrillation (McNeil, p 669), assessment of seroprevalence against poliovirus in Italy (Lupi, p 677), and a commentary on mathematical models for the epidemiology of pertussis, its resurgence and immunity (Domenech de Cellès, p 683).
Three articles on Influenza include a systematic review of the safety of inactivated vaccines in pregnancy (Giles, p 687), survey of healthcare students’ attitudes to mandatory influenza vaccination (Ghandora, p 700), and a Phase 3 trial of safety and immunogenicity of an egg-based inactivated quadrivalent vaccine (Song, p 710).
The Meningococcal section explores the experience with a mass immunization campaign at a university in response to Group B Meningococcus outbreak in the US (Capitano, p 717) and strain coverage after different schedules of multicomponent 4CMenB vaccination in infants (Biolchi, p 725).
Two articles on Public Health analyze the impact of an interview-based intervention to promote long-term coverage (Lemaitre, p 732) and a comment on consistent terminology for indicators of childhood vaccinations (MacDonald, p 740).
Finally, we present a Phase 4 study of two doses of an inactivated Hepatitis A vaccine in healthy children (Shi, p 748) and an evaluation of a Novel Vaccine against botulinum neurotoxin serotype B (Yu, p 755).
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,