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Vaccines
Special Issues
Vaccination Coverage and Vaccine Hesitancy
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Vaccination Coverage and Vaccine Hesitancy

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Vaccines and Public Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 10176

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Fanny Pojero

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Guest Editor
Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Palermo, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Interests: immunology; inflammation; aging; inflammaging; chronic diseases; phytochemicals
Dr. Mario Allegra

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Interests: eryptosis; antioxidants; oxidative stress; signaling patterns; inflammation; brain metabolism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Starting with the use of cowpox virus as a vaccine for immunization against the variola (smallpox) virus in the late 1700s, vaccine development and the implementation of vaccination protocols became the focus of an intensive research effort that has been facing multiple challenges such as HIV and Ebola virus.

Vaccination represents an effective approach to prevent life-threatening illness/death from infectious agents and infection-related carcinogenesis. In addition, successful vaccination programs with high vaccination coverage may narrow the transmission of pathogens, as well as offer  protection to vulnerable subjects that are not suitable candidates for vaccination. Moreover, vaccines are routinely used to protect animal health and prevent infections in food animals, with advantages regarding livestock farming costs, food security and the limitation of zoonoses. Thus, vaccines are key determinants of social and economic benefits in terms of healthcare system resilience, life expectancy, community interaction opportunities and productivity.

However, health inequities, age-related differences in vaccine efficacy and a lack of capillary information represent some of the most prominent obstacles towards global immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to discuss the relevance and challenges of vaccination in the light of health policies, and possible strategies to overcome vaccine hesitancy and inequalities in vaccine availability/distribution.

Dr. Fanny Pojero
Dr. Mario Allegra
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • vaccination
  • vaccination policy
  • vaccine hesitancy
  • vaccine-preventable diseases
  • vaccine equity
  • vaccination strategies
  • vaccine efficacy
  • immunization strategies and public health

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 4235 KiB  
Article
Humoral and Cellular Immunity Are Significantly Affected in Renal Transplant Recipients, following Vaccination with BNT162b2
by Asimina Fylaktou, Stamatia Stai, Efstratios Kasimatis, Aliki Xochelli, Vasiliki Nikolaidou, Anastasia Papadopoulou, Grigorios Myserlis, Georgios Lioulios, Despoina Asouchidou, Maria Giannaki, Evangelia Yannaki, Georgios Tsoulfas, Aikaterini Papagianni and Maria Stangou
Vaccines 2023, 11(11), 1670; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11111670 - 31 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1460
Abstract
Background. Renal transplant recipients (RTRs) tend to mount weaker immune responses to vaccinations, including vaccines against the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Methods. Humoral immunity was assessed using anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) and neutralizing antibodies (NAb) serum levels measured by [...] Read more.
Background. Renal transplant recipients (RTRs) tend to mount weaker immune responses to vaccinations, including vaccines against the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Methods. Humoral immunity was assessed using anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) and neutralizing antibodies (NAb) serum levels measured by ELISA, and cellular immunity was assessed using T-, B-, NK, natural killer-like T (NKT)-cell subpopulations, and monocytes measured by flow cytometry, and also specific T-cell immunity, at predefined time points after BNT162b2 vaccination, in 57 adult RTRs. Results. Administration of three booster doses was necessary to achieve anti-RBD and NAb protective levels in almost all patients (92.98%). Ab production, at several time points, was positively correlated with the corresponding renal function and inversely correlated with hemodialysis vintage (HDV) and treatment with mycophenolic acid (MPA). A gradual rise in several cell subpopulations, including total lymphocytes (p = 0.026), memory B cells (p = 0.028), activated CD4 (p = 0.005), and CD8 cells (p = 0.001), was observed even after the third vaccination dose, while a significant reduction in CD3+PD1+ (p = 0.002), NKT (p = 0.011), and activated NKT cells (p = 0.034) was noted during the same time interval. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cells were present in 41% of the patients who were unable to develop Nabs, and their positivity rates four months after the second dose were in inverse correlation with monocytes (p = 0.045) and NKT cells (p = 0.01). Conclusions. SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses preceded the humoral ones, while two booster doses were needed for this group of immunocompromised patients to mount a protective immune response. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccination Coverage and Vaccine Hesitancy)
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12 pages, 2038 KiB  
Article
Regional Differences in Uptake of Vaccination against COVID-19 and Influenza in Germany: Results from the DigiHero Cohort
by Bianca Klee, Sophie Diexer, Myka Harun Sarajan, Nadine Glaser, Mascha Binder, Thomas Frese, Matthias Girndt, Daniel Sedding, Jessica I. Hoell, Irene Moor, Michael Gekle, Rafael Mikolajczyk and Cornelia Gottschick
Vaccines 2023, 11(11), 1640; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11111640 - 26 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1719
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, vaccination uptake exhibited considerable regional disparities. To assess the factors contributing to this variation, we examined the association of sociodemographic variables with COVID-19, COVID-19 booster, and influenza vaccination status within a cohort of 37,078 participants from 13 [...] Read more.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, vaccination uptake exhibited considerable regional disparities. To assess the factors contributing to this variation, we examined the association of sociodemographic variables with COVID-19, COVID-19 booster, and influenza vaccination status within a cohort of 37,078 participants from 13 German federal states in the digital health cohort study commonly known as DigiHero. Our findings revealed variations in vaccination rates based on sociodemographic factors. However, these factors had limited explanatory power regarding regional differences in vaccine uptake. In contrast, we found substantial correlations between regional support of specific parties during the last local elections and the vaccination uptake at the level of each administrative district. In conclusion, sociodemographic factors alone did not suffice to explain the regional disparities in vaccine uptake. Political stances can play a major role, although the current investigation did not assess individual political orientations but rather used only an ecological approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccination Coverage and Vaccine Hesitancy)
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Review

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13 pages, 1144 KiB  
Review
Global Disparities in Access to Vaccine Clinical Trials: A Review of the Literature
by Ali Mardini, Norhan Shaykhon, Asher Khan, Ahmad Mardini and Hajirah N. Saeed
Vaccines 2024, 12(4), 348; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12040348 - 23 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1773
Abstract
Vaccines are an effective tool to reduce the disease burden from infectious diseases on a population, infrastructural, and individual level. Before vaccines can be administered to populations at large, they must go through rigorous testing in the form of clinical trials. While vaccine [...] Read more.
Vaccines are an effective tool to reduce the disease burden from infectious diseases on a population, infrastructural, and individual level. Before vaccines can be administered to populations at large, they must go through rigorous testing in the form of clinical trials. While vaccine trials can be used to assess the efficacy of interventions on a local populace as well as target local endemic diseases, most clinical trials are sponsored and conducted by companies in high-income countries (HICs). This can lead to vaccines that are not optimized for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and that often neglect to address diseases specific to the local population. This narrative review aims to explore the factors leading to discrepancies in the execution of and access to vaccine trials between HICs and LMICs, thus guiding future efforts in confronting them. This review was written using the literature sourced from the PubMed database and supplemented with articles from Google Scholar along with grey literature. Several themes are highlighted including poorly defined regulatory and ethical guidelines, staff shortages, lack of research infrastructure, and logistical barriers. We discuss how these challenges have affected vaccine development in various capacities through case examples of SARS-CoV-2, poliovirus, and malaria. Many challenges remain in equitable vaccine clinical trial development and implementation. Facilitating the implementation of locally sponsored vaccine clinical trials in LMICs may be one avenue to address these challenges. In doing so, LMICs can become active stakeholders in the health of their citizens by addressing endemic diseases, tailoring vaccine specifications based on local needs, and implementing wide-scale vaccine access and delivery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccination Coverage and Vaccine Hesitancy)
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26 pages, 1214 KiB  
Review
Ocular Inflammation Post-Vaccination
by Yaru Zou, Koju Kamoi, Yuan Zong, Jing Zhang, Mingming Yang and Kyoko Ohno-Matsui
Vaccines 2023, 11(10), 1626; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11101626 - 23 Oct 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3081
Abstract
The association between vaccines and ocular disorders has attracted significant attention in scientific research. Numerous mainstream vaccines are associated with a range of uveitis types, including anterior, intermediate, and posterior uveitis. Additionally, they are associated with distinct ocular diseases such as multifocal choroiditis, [...] Read more.
The association between vaccines and ocular disorders has attracted significant attention in scientific research. Numerous mainstream vaccines are associated with a range of uveitis types, including anterior, intermediate, and posterior uveitis. Additionally, they are associated with distinct ocular diseases such as multifocal choroiditis, Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada (VKH) disease, acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy (APMPPE), and multiple evanescent white dot syndrome (MEWDS). These ocular conditions are often transient, with a vast majority of patients experiencing improvement after steroid intervention. To date, numerous cases of vaccine-induced uveitis have been reported. This study analyzed the correlation between antiviral vaccines, including the hepatitis B virus (HBV), human papillomavirus (HPV), measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), varicella zoster virus (VZV), and influenza vaccines, and different manifestations of uveitis. This is the first comprehensive study to offer a detailed analysis of uveitis types induced by antiviral vaccines. Through an extensive database search, we found a particularly strong link between influenza vaccines, followed by VZV and HPV vaccines. While anterior uveitis is common, conditions such as APMPPE, MEWDS, and VKH are particularly notable and merit careful consideration in clinical practice. Corticosteroid treatment was effective; however, half of the observed patients did not achieve full recovery, indicating potentially prolonged effects of the vaccine. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccination Coverage and Vaccine Hesitancy)
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Other

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12 pages, 544 KiB  
Systematic Review
Promoting Vaccinations in Pregnancy: Results of a Systematic Literature Review of Italian Initiatives
by Sara Properzi, Maria Stella Sepioni, Roberta Carestia, Giulia Cervelli and Chiara de Waure
Vaccines 2024, 12(3), 235; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12030235 - 24 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1243
Abstract
Pregnant women and infants inherently face heightened susceptibility to complications resulting from infectious diseases. Within these populations, vaccinations offer numerous advantages. This systematic review endeavors to comprehensively analyze the existing literature concerning interventions designed to promote vaccinations among pregnant women and newborns in [...] Read more.
Pregnant women and infants inherently face heightened susceptibility to complications resulting from infectious diseases. Within these populations, vaccinations offer numerous advantages. This systematic review endeavors to comprehensively analyze the existing literature concerning interventions designed to promote vaccinations among pregnant women and newborns in Italy. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science for primary studies published until 3 August 2023 which assessed the impact of vaccination education interventions targeting pregnant Italian women. Data extraction, pooling, and a quality appraisal of the included studies were conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. Among the 528 articles identified, 3 met the inclusion criteria and focused on pregnant women aged 25 to 40 attending pre-delivery courses. In these studies, the effectiveness of the interventions was assessed using pre- and post-intervention questionnaires that investigated knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding recommended vaccinations. The results reveal significant increases in intention and adherence to vaccination among participants after these interventions. The results underscore the positive influence of health professionals’ educational initiatives on pregnant Italian women’s vaccination knowledge and attitudes. However, longitudinal studies with larger representative samples are needed to validate these findings and identify potential avenues for improving maternal educational interventions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccination Coverage and Vaccine Hesitancy)
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