News

Updates and interesting news!

Don't forget to check out the vaccine portal for details of vaccine-specific news too!!

Disclaimer: I sometimes miss stuff. I don't know everything. I do sometimes take a break and go on holiday. Don't rely solely on little-old-me!! If you spot any useful or interesting news please get in touch so I can add it. Collaborate with me so everyone can benefit! We all have the same goal of doing the best by our patients with the best available evidence. Sharing is caring :-)

April 2025

Upcoming conferences:

17th - 18th June - The UKHSA’s 12th National Immunisation Network (NIN25) training conference will focus on current and emerging scientific issues in immunisation and implementation issues relating to the national immunisation programme. I REALLY wish I could go but I'm booked in for some training sessions (imms updates ironically) and I don't like to let my clients down :-( tell me ALL about it if you go!!!

Hello April :-) Hello to the lovely cherry blossom and magnolias

Well, we are a quarter through the year already? Can you believe it?

Since 25 March, 563,154 COVID-19 spring booster vaccinations have been booked since the national booking system opened. Individuals that need extra protection this year include those aged 75 and over (including those by 17 June 2025), older adult care home residents, and immunosuppressed individuals aged six months and over. As the programme begins this month I just want to wish you the best of luck with it. Norovirus still seems to be on the rampage and of course is also something that affects those vulnerable groups worse than anyone else. In the week ending 23 March, there were 903 hospital patients with norovirus – nearly two-thirds (62.3%) higher than the previous record for cases at this time of year (week ending 24 March 2024). But flu is settling down now at least.

2nd April 2025: 11 needle-free vaccines that could transform global immunisation. Great spot Karen!

3rd April 2025: Will We See a Bird Flu Vaccine Next Year? And another relevant article: Everything You Need to Know About Bird Flu

7th April 2025: A debut in the world of mpox vaccination! Vaccination against mpox: information for healthcare practitioners published. This new guidance document is for health practitioners implementing the mpox vaccination programme to protect against MPVX. The chickenpox public health management guidance has also been updated today to reflect changes to health protection regulations.

9th April 2025: Polio: guidance, vaccination, data and analysis: This page has been updated to include information on the global polio eradication programme, the UK National Authority for Containment, and environmental surveillance.

9th April 2025: You know me, I love a cheat sheet!! Hepatitis B vaccine for at-risk infants aide memoire updated. Look no further for a summary of hepatitis B vaccine schedule, advice and guidance for pregnant women and new mothers.

And here's another one from 6th April: Notifiable diseases poster for registered medical practitioners (a poster listing notifiable diseases in humans, and how to report them).

10th April 2025: Pertussis epidemiology in England 2024 and 2025 reports updated: Find the number of laboratory confirmed cases of pertussis in England in 2024 and 2025 here.

March 2025

Upcoming conferences:

17th - 18th June - The UKHSA’s 12th National Immunisation Network (NIN25) training conference will focus on current and emerging scientific issues in immunisation and implementation issues relating to the national immunisation programme. I REALLY wish I could go but I'm booked in for some training sessions (imms updates ironically) and I don't like to let my clients down :-( tell me ALL about it if you go!!!

10th-13th March 6pm each day- Immunisation Update – The Webinar Series

22nd March - Registration is now open for the 8th RCN and NaTHNaC joint Travel Health Conference

24th March - World TB Day conference

7th March - I'm delivering a free webinar over lunch time (1230-1330) about injection technique. Follow this link for details. Injection Perfection: Could Small Changes Improve Your Practice?

Hello March! Hello a-bit-of-sunshine! Hello crocuses and daffs :-)

I've just been catching up on the data that got updated at the end of Feb - both disease surveillance, and vaccine uptake. The good news is that COVID, flu and RSV reports are starting to decline now. However Norovirus is on the rampage and seems to be increasing. Just a friendly reminder that alcogel does not touch this one so bring on the soap and water (and vaccines)! Uptake of flu vaccines in children of all ages seems to be hovering around the 50% mark. As usual, lowest in London and Midlands but my hometown of Manchester isn't doing so well either. Vaccine uptake in healthcare workers is nationally at 38.1% (last year at this point it was 43.1%). In other groups, the group (as usual) doing the best (by far) for uptake 24/25 is the over 65's. And the only group to have increased in uptake from 23/24 (the rest have generally decreased or stayed the same) is pregnant women. Could the RSV programme have given a helping hand here, encouraging perhaps more opportunistic vaccination with flu?

28th Feb (yes I know it's in the March section but I've only just seen this thanks to the lovely Laura K for pointing it out, and didn't want you to miss it either) Note the changes to the GP contract in annex E.

Here's the summary:

Cessation of Hib/MenC 12-month dose effective from 1 July 2025 : Children who turn 12 months on or before 30 June 2025 will remain eligible for Menitorix® until stock levels are depleted, then the infant should be offered a Hexavalent vaccine (to replace the 12-month Hib dose). Children who turn 12 months on or after 1 July 2025 will not be offered a 12-month Hib/MenC vaccine but instead will receive a routine Hexavalent dose at a new 18-month appointment. This change will start from 01 January 2026 when the new 18-month visit will begin in the childhood vaccination schedule.

DBS test recorded for Hep B at risk babies between 12 and 18 months.

MMR programme schedule change and catch-up effective from 1st Jan 2026: Children turning 18 months on or after 01 January 2026 will receive their 2nd MMR dose at their new 18-month appointment. Children aged 18 months to 2 years 6 months on 01 January 2026 will be invited to a brought forward appointment for their 2nd MMR dose between 01 January 2026 and 31 October 2026. Children aged 2 years and 7 months to 3 years 4 months on 01 January 2026 will receive their 2nd MMR dose at their existing scheduled 3 years 4 months appointment before 31 October 2026.

Varicella introduction and catch-up (subject to final policy decision) effective from 1st Jan 2026: Children turning 12 months on or after 01 January 2026 will receive two doses of MMRV (at 12 and 18 months). Children turning 18 months on or after 01 January 2026 will receive one dose of MMRV (to complete their two-dose MMR schedule). Children aged 18 months to 3 years 4 months on 01 January 2026 will receive one dose of MMRV instead of their 2nd MMR dose. Of this cohort: those aged 18 months to 2 years 6 months will be invited to a brought forward appointment for their 2nd MMR dose (as MMRV) between 1 January 2026 and 31 October 2026. Those aged 2 years 7 months to 3 years 4 months on 1 January 2026 will receive their 2nd MMR dose (as MMRV) at their existing scheduled 3 years 4 months appointment before 31 October 2026. Children aged 3 years 4 months to less than 6 years will be invited for a universal single catch-up dose of MMRV. Appointments to be scheduled from 1 January 2026 and completed by 31 March 2027. Children aged 6 years to less than 11 years will be invited to receive a single dose of MMRV if they have no history of chicken pox. Appointments to be scheduled from 1 January 2026 and completed by 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027, an opportunistic or on request offer will remain for varicella (as a single dose of MMRV) to all children aged 3 years 4 months to less than 11 years before 1 January 2026 who have no history of chicken pox.

4th March: Forget pancake day - It's HPV awareness day! And this rather sobering news item has appeared: Over a quarter of pupils missing out on HPV vaccine

4th March: Cover of vaccination evaluated rapidly (COVER) programme 2024 to 2025: quarterly data published

6th March: Policy paper published: Departmental minute from the Department of Health and Social Care: notification of contingent liability - COVID-19 spring 2025 vaccination programme. The summary- Vaccination will be offered in England in spring 2025 to adults aged 75 years and over, residents in a care home for older adults, and individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in tables 3 and 4 of the COVID-19 chapter of the GB. The vaccines that will be supplied for the spring 2025 programme are the Moderna mRNA (Spikevax) vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) vaccine.

7th March: Oh no :-( Lassa fever contact tracing underway, UKHSA is tracing contacts of a person who travelled to England with Lassa fever and has since returned to Nigeria, with overall public risk remaining very low.

7th March: National Protocol for the administration of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine to individuals aged 5 years and over is here!!

7th March: Oh No!! A second measles death in the USA, not surprisingly, both unvaccinated :-( Huge shame.

7th March: Cholera cases reported in the United Kingdom and Germany linked to Ethiopia

11th March: Green book chapter update for hepatitis B: Updates are that PreHevbri is no longer available in the UK, and to provide a clear description of the types of significant exposure.

12th March: World-first clinical trial shows promise for transformative oral snakebite treatment

13th March: Measles highest in 25 years in Europe, WHO says

13th March: Meningococcal B: vaccine information for healthcare professionals doc updated. The PDF version of this guidance has been replaced by an HTML version. The title has been changed to clearly distinguish this guidance from that for other programmes. The guidance includes updated epidemiological information, and the references to latex and black triangle labeling have been removed.

17th March: Trial of lassa vaccine opens. And on the same day, excellent news: Burundi introduces malaria vaccine into routine immunisation.

19th March: COVID-19 vaccination: spring 2025 campaign resources updated. Also updated is the document; COVID-19 vaccination: information for healthcare practitioners. PLUS the Green Book chapter. Lots of COVID-19 reading to do!! People aged 75 years and older, residents in care homes for older people, and those aged 6 months and over with a weakened immune system will be offered a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in spring 2025.

23rd March: A late-stage tuberculosis vaccine is making its way through clinical trials. This looks promising and shows a 50% efficacy in reducing pulmonary TB in adults with latent TB infection—an unprecedented result in decades of TB vaccine research. The current BCG vaccine lacks in efficacy for adult forms of TB, despite being very good at preventing severe childhood forms of TB. COME ON TB VACCINES!!!

24th March: Vaccine Update has landed. Have a read for info relating to the COVID spring programme, which commences on 1st April and ends on 17th June 2025. Also note that the black triangle designation has been removed from Bexsero, and the tip cap of the vaccine syringe no longer contains latex. There's also a reminder to use the fabulous website; Health Publications UK for all your vaccine-based resources. Also, see if you can make any of the dates mentioned for the conferences and educational opportunities this year that are mentioned in there.

24th March: Sheep flu!!! First case of bird flu in sheep found on UK farm

25th March: Doctors and charities call for gonorrhoea vaccine roll-out. When will we see men b vaccines being used for gonorrhoea? The evidence is there....

25th March 2025: Interesting article about roadblocks for developing combination vaccines. Fewer shots, more protection: The promise of combination vaccines

25th March: UK draws up new disease-threat watch list. The UK has a new watch list of 24 infectious diseases that could pose the greatest future threat to public health. Some are viruses with global pandemic potential - like COVID - while others are illnesses that have no existing treatments or could cause significant harm. Bird flu is (unsuprisingly) on the list, as well as arthropod-borne diseases that may become common with rising temperatures from climate change. One we are all watching over in travel health-world. Paramyxoviridae virus's feature there too. Think: measles :-(

25th March: RSV vaccination is proving to be fruitful! Early data (in the Lancet) from the roll out of the RSV vaccination programme in England shows it is making a significant reduction to hospital admission rates in older people. The findings from UKHSA indicate 30% fewer hospital admissions in 75 to 79 year olds than would have occurred without vaccination. This was seen after around 40% of eligible older people took up the vaccine this winter, and the impact is expected to increase with further vaccine uptake (see the latest uptake data here). Keep going everyone!!

Food for thought: In the latest RSV uptake reports, coverage varied significantly by ethnic group, the highest coverage being reported for the ‘Other ethnic groups - Chinese’ category (66.2%) and lowest for the ‘Mixed - White and Black Caribbean’ category (21.5%).

27th March: Cover of vaccination evaluated rapidly (COVER) programme: annual data- UPDATED. (England annual data on coverage achieved by the childhood immunisation programme). If you scroll down you can see some useful visuals, maps with distribution of % coverage around the UK. Scotland and Wales are still generally doing better at coverage than England on the whole, with London showing lowest coverage. But have a good read through for the details. While we are on uptake of vaccines, there are some other datasets that have also just been updated and here are the headlines: 38.1% of frontline healthcare workers have been vaccinated for influenza- GP surgeries seem to be doing the best for healthcare worker uptake according to the charts. In the other eligible flu cohorts, up to Feb 2025, The over 65's are on top at 74.9% uptake. The clinical risk groups from 6m to 65y are at 40%, pregnant women are at 35%, and 2 and 3 year olds are hovering around 40% uptake. The annual reports from the national PPV immunisation programme are also here (31st March). The main findings were that coverage in those aged 65 and over was 73.1%, an increase of 1.3 percentage points compared with the 2022/23 financial year. Coverage increased with age from 34.8% in those aged 65 to 85.3% in those aged 75 and over. Coverage in those aged 2 to 64 in one or more clinical risk group was 46.5%. Coverage in clinical risk groups ranged from 34.3% (chronic liver disease) to 84.2% (cochlear implants). See the report for more details.

27th March: A sobering headline from the BBC based on some GAVI analysis: One million children could die if US cuts funding, charity warns. And while we are on the US, measles cases are still increasing to worrying levels.

31st March: Meningococcal disease: guidance, data and analysis: updated! Lab case data from July to September 24 are published too (as of 27th march). Following the complete withdrawal of COVID-19 containment measures in England from July 2021, overall case numbers returned to pre-pandemic levels driven mainly by men B. Cases due to the other capsular groups remained very low because of the highly effective indirect (herd) protection provided by the adolescent meningococcal ACWY vaccine programme introduced from August 2015, alongside direct protection in those vaccinated. The distribution of meningococcal cases by capsular group causing invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) between July and September 2024 is summarised in a table in the document but worth noting that Men B accounted for 85.4% of all cases (41 of 48), followed by MenW: 6.3% (3 cases), MenY: 2.1% (1 case), MenC: 2.1% (1 case) and MenE: 2.1% (1 case). There were no confirmed cases for any other capsular groups. There were 41 Men B cases confirmed between July and September 2024, compared to 45 cases in the corresponding period in 2023. Between July and September, Men B was responsible for 93.3% (28 of 30) of IMD cases in individuals under 25 years of age and 72.2% (13 of 18) of cases in individuals aged 25 years or older. All confirmed cases of MenW, MenY and MenC occurred in individuals aged over 25 years. The one case of MenE was aged between 5 and 9 years.

February 2025

February already???

Well, this month has largely been dominated by mpox for me so far. Lots of requests coming in for training, especially on the intradermal technique. And then this announcement on 3rd Feb: NHS opens new mpox vaccination sites across England. And on the 4th Feb, the 9th case of Clade 1b mox was confirmed in the UK. Most cases this year have been associated with travel to Uganda, or in people who have had contact with someone with a travel history.

GOOD NEWS! I have tested the 'share' buttons on Travel Health pro and it's back up and running again. Share as much of those lovely resources as you can again!

3rd Feb: Rabies post-exposure risk management forms updated - added information on Zimbabwean rabies vaccine alert. See the related NaTHNaC advice here. UPDATE: Another update was made to the risk assessment form and calendar for rabies post exposure treatment on the 7th Feb.

4th Feb: Well this is EXCITING news!!! The MHRA has today approved the live chikungunya vaccine (IXCHIQ). (Also see this from Valneva). I think I will be making a chikungunya portal very soon.... maybe when/if the Green Book chapter lands....

4th Feb: There is currently no approved vaccine for the Sudan strain of Ebola. One does exist, however, for the Zaire strain, which has been prevalent in the past in the DRC. So it is (sort of) pleasing to see this article in the BBC news: Uganda begins Ebola vaccine trial after new outbreak. This is a much-needed trial for the Sudan strain. The first patient, a 32-year-old male nurse, died last week. On Monday, the initial participant in the trial, who is currently in isolation, received a dose of the vaccine, which was developed by the International Aids Vaccine Initiative.

5th Feb: Factsheet produced by NaTHNaC about the recent Ebola cases in Uganda. The fatal case above was a nurse working at the Mulago National Reference hospital in Kampala. He sought treatment at a number of different healthcare facilities, as well as a traditional healer. EVD was confirmed by three national reference laboratories after he died on 29 January 2025. Sadly, his wife tested positive on 2 February 2025, after developing signs and symptoms indicative of EVD. So sad :-( and, like the falsified rabies vaccine reminder earlier this month, serves as another poignant reminder about the difficulty of sourcing help in other counties sometimes.

5th Feb 2025: Nasal COVID-19 vaccine to enter US clinical trials. The new trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine administered via two routes: inhaled into the lungs and sprayed into the nose. I absolutely love seeing developments in vaccine administration technology.

6th Feb: Quarterly vaccination coverage statistics for children aged up to 5 years in the UK (COVER programme): July to September 2024 published. Sadly, vaccination coverage measured this quarter remains below peaks in coverage reported in the previous ten-year period, and for a number of antigens, represents a continuation of an ongoing declining trend in coverage. However, well done to Wales and Scotland whom both exceeded the 95% WHO target for coverage for both the ‘6-in-1’ and MMR1 vaccines measured at 5 years. England did not achieve this target, with the worst uptake appearing to be in London.

6th Feb: The RSV chapter in the Green book has been updated with recent evidence on vaccine safety and effectiveness, and latest JCVI advice on selective immunisation with monoclonal antibodies.

6th Feb: GO CEPI!!! Pushing mRNA vaccine development timelines to new speeds. If you don't know about CEPI please check them out... Their mission: To accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need. On the 11th Feb I also spotted this intriguing announcement: CEPI partners with Ethris to increase access to RNA vaccines through spray-dry technique. More nasal vaccine news!

7th Feb: A timely reminder to anyone doing courses that things can change very quickly in the world of immunisation. Today A LOT of mpox guidance has been updated - of course this is just 2 days after delivering a course all about it. I've had some post-course emails to send today! Check everything out if relevant to you. The things that have been either added or updated are:

• Smallpox (MVA) vaccination against monkeypox checklist and consent form

• Mpox (monkeypox) contacts vaccination resources: Information on the smallpox vaccination used to protect those who have had contact with an mpox case against the monkeypox virus (MPXV).

• Mpox (monkeypox) vaccination resources: Information and leaflets to give to the patients and some more patient info specifically on ID technique

• I also came across this article from the 30th Jan which has some interesting discussion points about the ongoing outbreaks in Africa, the change in transmission routes, and the susceptibility of children to the more deadly clade 1b.

10th Feb: Cover of vaccination evaluated rapidly (COVER) programme: annual data on the childhood programme updated. Disappointing reading. Vaccine coverage decreased for all of the 14 vaccines in 2023-24. No vaccines met the 95% target. The last vaccination with coverage above 95% was the 5-in-1 one vaccine at age 5 years, 95.2% in 2020-21. MMR1 coverage at 5 years decreased to 91.9%, the lowest level since 2010-11. MMR2 coverage at 5 years decreased to 83.9%, the lowest level since 2009-10. MMR1 coverage at 24 months decreased to 88.9% in 2023-24, the lowest level since 2009-10. Hib/MenC coverage displayed the largest year on year decrease of all coverage measures in 2023-24, falling to 89.4%, a 1% decrease from 2022-23 and the lowest coverage level since 2011-12. All other coverage measures decreased between 0.5% - 0.6%.

12th Feb: Groundbreaking malaria vaccine provides high-level protection with just one dose. This is pretty incredible stuff - and I recommend you read the article to learn more about the biology involved here with parasitic vaccine development. If this reaches the efficacy of over 90% that the WHO calls for, could malaria be a thing of the past sooner than we thought.... wouldn't that be fantastic?!!

13th Feb 2025: The 25/26 Influenza programme information is starting to come through now - check it out!! Here's the flu letter. And here are the vaccines marketed for 25/26.

13th Feb: Pertussis stats for last year are in: In England, provisionally there were 14,905 laboratory confirmed cases of pertussis between January and December 2024 with 554 cases in January 2024 increasing by month to 3,038 in May and then decreasing by month to 179 in December. This compares with 856 laboratory confirmed cases of pertussis reported throughout 2023. There were 10 reported deaths in infants who developed pertussis between January and December 2024. In the 12 years prior to the introduction of maternal pertussis vaccination in October 2012, 63 deaths occurred in babies aged under one year with confirmed pertussis. Since the introduction of pertussis vaccination in pregnancy, from 2013 to the end of December 2024, there have been 31 deaths in babies with confirmed pertussis who were all too young to be fully protected by infant vaccination. Sadly, this includes 10 deaths in infants who had contracted pertussis between January and December 2024. Of the 31 infants that died, 25 had mothers who were not vaccinated in pregnancy.

13th Feb: Boooo! J&J, Sanofi stop E.coli vaccine trial due to low effectiveness. Interesting fact while we are on E.coli: Last year, 104 people fell sick and 34 were hospitalised due to an outbreak caused by the O157:H7 strain that was linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounders (which incidentally is my personal go to when dining at McDonalds eek).

11th Feb: Number of confirmed Ebola cases in Uganda rises to nine

14th Feb: U.S. conditionally approves vaccine to protect poultry from avian flu. This led me to ask the question: How do you vaccinate a bird? So I looked it up and here is some info if you are now curious too.

15th Feb 2025: Penmenvy, GSK’s 5-in-1 meningococcal vaccine, approved by US FDA to help protect against MenABCWY

18th Feb: Both the guidance for the Maternal RSV and Older Adults RSV vaccination programmes have been updated to reflect new data on Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) a very rare side effect of the Abrysvo vaccine, updated contraindications and information on vaccination of those under 18 who are pregnant.

19th Feb: Smallpox and mpox Green Book chapter updated: Amendment to post-exposure recommended use to include those previously primed with a live smallpox vaccine (in addition to those who have had one dose of MVA-BN) vaccine.

27th Feb: Test identifies prior infection by Zika virus and all four dengue virus serotypes. Brazilian researchers have developed a simple test that almost instantly tells whether a person has been exposed to any of the four dengue virus serotypes, as well as Zika virus. The test is an enzyme immunoassay similar to ELISA, a platform widely used in laboratory testing throughout Brazil. The technology can easily be adapted for use in automated systems and rapid point-of-care tests.

28th Feb: mRESVIA RSV vaccine approved to protect patients aged 60 and over. The MHRA has approved an mRNA respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine (brand name mRESVIA) to protect patients aged 60 and over against lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV.

28th Feb: Vaccine update has landed!

Here's a collection of more interesting things I have enjoyed reading this month:

• How Rwanda stopped a Marburg outbreak,

• Duke researchers achieve breakthrough in HIV vaccine, development,

• Microscopic pillars on insect wings give bugs an antibacterial superpower, Heat stable and intrinsically sterile liquid protein formulations (the title doesn't look terribly exciting BUT this is a very important area of trying to make medicine formulations more stable outside of the cold chain. Very important especially, for countries that have intermittent electricity supply, limited resources, and very hot climates).

• Travellers’ adherence to atovaquone/proguanil malaria chemoprophylaxis after return from endemic areas

• Blood Test Predicts How Long Vaccines Will Protect You - loving the moves towards personalised vaccination

• Robert F Kennedy Jr sworn in as health secretary after Senate confirmation: Vaccine skeptic now leads US’s vast healthcare system after gaining backing of key Republican senators (actually - did NOT enjoy reading this one OR this one: Trump’s dismantling of USAid raises risk of mpox global emergency, experts warn)

• ‘It’s a cowboy show out there’: the deadly lottery of the snakebite antivenom industry. One for the travel health reading list. And a reminder again of the difficulties of finding the right treatments abroad.

• Fatal journeys: causes of death in international travellers in South America. A reminder to tailor advice to the demographic characteristics in the traveller.

• Not All Children Respond to Vaccinations the Same

Upcoming conferences:

17th - 18th June - The UKHSA’s 12th National Immunisation Network (NIN25) training conference will focus on current and emerging scientific issues in immunisation and implementation issues relating to the national immunisation programme. I REALLY wish I could go but I'm booked in for some training sessions (imms updates ironically) and I don't like to let my clients down :-( tell me ALL about it if you go!!!

10th-13th March 6pm each day- Immunisation Update – The Webinar Series

22nd March - Registration is now open for the 8th RCN and NaTHNaC joint Travel Health Conference

24th March - World TB Day conference

7th March - I'm delivering a free webinar over lunch time (1230-1330) about injection technique. Follow this link for details. Injection Perfection: Could Small Changes Improve Your Practice?

Also....

Welcome to January 2025! Happy New Year

Hope you had a nice end to 2024 and managed to get some relaxing in. We were all poorly here with a disease I could not identify so I have called it respiratorycoronialpertussianinfluenzae to cover all bases. We managed to escape norovirus thankfully - but many in the UK did not sadly. Hope you and your families managed to stay well, or at least happy.

I highly recommend reading this from the GHTC as a bit of a summary for 2024: A year in review: The global health innovation stories that shaped 2024

What can we expect to see in 2025 I wonder? Is that Chicken pox vaccine programme coming? Will mpox, COVID-19 and marburg keep at bay? Will we be using a chikungunya, malaria or zika vaccine in the UK? Will AI be featuring more and more in the literature? I'll try to keep you posted here as usual!

PLEASE NOTE: on my courses I often share the advice about using the share buttons on Travel Health Pro to email travellers factsheets and important information that you might not have time to discuss fully in a consult. HOWEVER, I have noticed that this feature isn't working lately so I have contacted NaTHNaC and raised it with them. They concur that it is not working and are looking into it. I will keep you updated here when I hear of any updates. UPDATE: FIXED!

1st Jan: With effect from 1st January 2025, the responsibility for the marketing and distribution of Rabipur transitions from Valneva to Bavarian Nordic, in partnership with Polar Speed Distribution. I wonder if this means there may be some shortages of rabies vaccines ahead as often is the case when transitions are happening...

7th Jan: Vaccine update: issue 353, December 2024, end of year special published. This bit is one to pay attention to... "We are also planning for a wider set of changes to the routine childhood schedule in 2025, which is one of the most significant changes to this programme in decades and will be the subject of one of our special editions early next year." I'm intrigued... I wonder if this is just to do with the potential move to an 18m vaccination visit for children to account for the chicken pox prog using MMRV vaccines, and a hep b/hib dose on the exit of mentiorix? Or could it be something else?

10th Jan: As of 10 January 2025, a further vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) has been detected in an environmental sewage sample from London collected in December 2024.

16th Jan: BBC article: Rise of vaccine distrust - why more of us are questioning jabs

16th Jan 2025: Do not underestimate the risks of pregnancy and Zika, read this cautionary tale here. This lady was not aware of Zika at her destination in Thailand. I wonder who gave her travel health advice or if she even sought it? And why hadn't the maternity teams picked up on the travel plans? So sad :-(

EDIT: Big thanks for Karen Rudd for sharing this more academic piece with me upon sharing the above Sun article: The first UK case of congenital Zika syndrome

17th Jan: Updated routine immunisation schedule posters - time for a clear out of the Sept 2024 copies to replace them with the Jan 2025 ones. NOTE: updated again (just as I printed out 20 copies for a course) on 22nd Jan...)

17th Jan: Article - Tanzania denies new Marburg virus outbreak, as WHO recommends travel restrictions

20th Jan: The Visual Guide to Vaccines poster has been updated to include repevax. The guidance for inadvertent administration of MMR, Shingles and varicella vaccines in pregnancy has also been updated. Plus the advice for vaccines in pregnancy for pregnant women information.

20th Jan: Another UK case of mpox clade 1b. On 20 January 2025, the UK Health Security Agency reported one new case of clade Ib mpox in a returned traveller who recently visited Uganda. This is the sixth confirmed clade Ib mpox case in England since October 2024 and has no known links to previous UK cases. Go here for further info.

22nd Jan: The routine imms schedule has been updated AGAIN to reflect a change to the use of REPEVAX rather than Boostrix-IPV at 3 years and 4 months. Worth noting that the left thigh is no longer specified for Men B vaccination in either the Complete immunisation schedule or the Routine Childhood immunisation schedule. The Men B training and healthcare professional resources are currently being updated and will include the same information.

22nd Jan: The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe announced that falsified rabies vaccine is circulating through unauthorised sources in Zimbabwe. They report this falsified product poses a significant threat to public health due to the possibility of lack of efficacy, harmful components and the risk of treatment failure in preventing rabies, a fatal disease.

23rd Jan: The School leaver booster (Td/IPV): vaccine coverage estimates and the HPV vaccine coverage for 23-24 are out - portals updated accordingly. It made me quite sad looking at the uptake data, I have to admit. HPV coverage for year 10 students was 76.7% for females and 71.2% for males. Td/IPV coverage for year 10 students during the 2023/24 was 72.7%, which is 6.8 percentage points lower than the year 10 cohort in 2022/23. I happened to come across this article at the same time which is quite relevant to youngsters and opinions about vaccination: Why 18 to 24-year-olds aren't getting jabs - and if it matters

23rd Jan: On 14 January 2025, the WHO reported an outbreak of suspected Marburg in north-western Tanzania. So far, a total of 25 suspected cases and one confirmed across these two districts, have been reported. Contacts of the cases, including healthcare workers, are reported to have been identified and are under follow-up in both districts. The source of the outbreak is currently unknown. A previous MVD outbreak in Tanzania occurred in March 2023 and lasted for nearly two months, with nine cases including six deaths. Read more about it here.

27th Jan: Farm worker contracts human case of bird flu. This was in Shropshire where sadly, a million chickens have to be killed now. We may be seeing price increases for eggs if this carries on. Although the worse consequence is bird flu of course.

29th Jan: A maternity special Vaccine Update has landed. I'm finding that vaccine uptake in this group is very disappointing :-( I'm glad the UKHSA is shining a spotlight on this important topical area. And interesting fact reported in there: fewer babies were born in England and Wales in 2023 than in any year since 1977 and in Scotland the lowest ever recorded number of babies were born! And I didn't know that 28th September is the most common birthday! Not a good time to be a newborn when a typical RSV season in the UK starts in October and peaks in December, alongside flu. Pre-vaccines, RSV accounted for 33,500 hospitalisations annually in children aged under 5. Babies under 6 months of age are at risk of serious illness and complications from flu. I also didn't know about RAVS; From September 2024 the Record a Vaccination Service (RAVS) system was introduced by NHS England for use in maternity units. This allows maternity services to record pertussis, RSV, and flu vaccinations, making it easier and quicker for maternity services to record the vaccine and send the information through to general practice. Maternity units recording vaccinations in RAVS, should no longer send additional notification of these records to GPs, as this may create duplicate entries in the patient’s GP record. Vaccinations recorded in RAVS are visible in the GP record which means that GPs no longer need to manually input all the vaccinations into their system. Seems pretty efficient to me!

30th Jan: Flu and COVID-19 surveillance report published. In Week 4 of 2025 influenza activity overall decreased across most indicators and was at medium activity levels. There continues to be an increase in influenza B across some indicators. The predominant circulating flu strain continues to be A H1N1 clade 5a.2a. Analysis by UKHSA shows that the H1N1 component of the flu vaccine is well matched. COVID-19 activity remained stable across most indicators and was at baseline activity levels. RSV activity showed a mixed picture and was circulating at low levels overall.The most recent week-to-week data shows that over 140,000 pregnant women have now been vaccinated since the programme launched in September. Norovirus though - Norovirus cases are over double what we would usually see at this time of year. This isn’t just horrid for those affected - it’s also having a big impact on acute settings and care homes. Roll on Norovirus vaccines.... please come to us sooooon.

27th Jan: This makes me sad: CDC health officials in US ordered to stop working with WHO immediately

29th Jan: UKHSA PCV Risk Groups PGD amended- check it out, but here are the highlights: newly licensed vaccine (Vaxneuvance PCV 15), updated considerations for those getting a cochlear implant, clarification of exclusion criteria, and clarity on offers to those at risk over 10 years old. Interval clarified as 8 weeks - not 2 months in line with Green Book.

30th Jan: The uptake data is out for Shingrix between 1st Sept 2023 and 31st August 2024 (the full first year of the programme). Find the summary on the link or in the Shingles portal.

December 2024 news

I can't believe it's December already! This means we have a month of reflection ahead, looking back at the year, and we will no doubt see some reports trickling through about infectious diseases epidemiology as the year draws to a close. Just at the end of November Texas reported its first locally acquired case of Dengue for the year. Locally acquired. Florida has had 66 cases, and California has reported 15 cases this year.

I'll be updating all the vaccine portals with relevant links and data where available over the festive period. (Yes, I do actually do this for fun. Happy Christmas to me)

1st Dec: Diarrhoea vaccine success? Check out this Lancet article: The impact of vaccines for diarrhoea on antibiotic use among children in five low-resource settings: a comparative simulation study

2nd Dec: This is an interesting read if you deal with celebrities in your clinic. As a travel health nurse in a private clinic, it was not uncommon for me to see celebrities about to do a tour abroad, or game show contestants, or charity expeditions. This might form a useful revalidation reflection for any nurses who deal with celebrities. Some good 'pause for thought' considerations.

2nd Dec: I've always been a bit suspicious of cucumbers. This confirms my fears!! US Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Cucumbers Under Investigation by FDA and CDC.

3rd Dec: Malaria guidelines updated today! And in tandem, so have the statistics for imported malaria.

Also this enlightening report has come out for this year- travel associated infections in the UK. So much epidemiology to read up on! That's my weekend planned. Seeing these reports always makes me reflect on WHY it's important to practice travel health effectively. It's as much about protecting the UK as it is the individual traveller. Worth noting the 700% increase in imported Zika cases, 201% increase in imported Dengue cases this year, and a 71% increase in imported Chikungunya cases. Malaria imported cases are at the highest they have been in 20 years! Thankfully on the brighter side, we have had no imported Yellow fever or JE cases, and just one cholera case. Let's all go to town on bite avoidance advice though with statistics like the above.

3rd Dec: Unknown disease kills 143 people in south-west DRC. (UPDATE Dec 24: turns out it was malaria)

Whether you are practicing travel health or not, remember how COVID-19 began. It's so important to keep up with what's happening around the world with regards to unknown diseases. And of course, known ones as well. This case study, published in TMAID this month, explores coordinated public health actions following the identification of a measles case arriving on an international flight, Spain: December 2022–January 2023.

3rd Dec: Check out this intriguing headline: Administering the BCG vaccine during the active phase of COVID-19 may help protect against the development of long COVID.

3rd Dec: MHRA update: Prescribers working in primary care may now prescribe, and community pharmacists may now supply antiviral medicines (oseltamivir and zanamivir) for the prophylaxis and treatment of flu at NHS expense. This is in accordance with NICE guidance, and Schedule 2 to the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts Regulations 2004), commonly known as the Grey List or Selected List Scheme (SLS).

4th Dec: Intranasal pertussis vaccine? BPZE1 is designed to overcome deficiencies of current pertussis vaccines, including poor durability of protection and failure to prevent nasopharyngeal B. pertussis colonisation that leads to escape mutants and transmission to vulnerable infants. Looks set to be entering phase 3 trials in 2025...

and this is interesting too: The quest for a longer-lasting whooping cough vaccine

5th Dec: MORE EPIDEMIOLOGY! The Pertussis stats are in! In England, provisionally there were 14,453 laboratory confirmed cases of pertussis reported to the UKHSA between January and October 2024, with 555 cases in January 2024, increasing by month to 3,046 in May and then decreasing by month to 509 in October. This compares with just 856 laboratory confirmed cases of pertussis reported throughout 2023. There have been 10 sad deaths in infants who developed pertussis between January and November 2024. Whilst monthly case numbers in 2024 have fallen since May, pertussis activity remains high so keep looking for those vaccination opportunities! To put this in perspective, in the 12 years prior to the introduction of maternal pertussis vaccination in October 2012, 63 deaths occurred in babies aged under one year with confirmed pertussis. Since the introduction of pertussis vaccination in pregnancy, from 2013 to the end of October 2024, there have been 31 deaths in babies with confirmed pertussis who were all too young to be fully protected by infant vaccination. Sadly, this includes the most recent 10 deaths. Of the 31 infants that died, 25 had mothers who were not vaccinated in pregnancy.

5th Dec 2024: TB vaccines: Achievable not aspirational

5th Dec: Flu vaccine deadline looms as hospital admissions double: Latest UKHSA data indicates more flu is already circulating this winter compared to last year. Hospitalisations jumped to 3.96 per 100,000 this week, compared with 1.78 per 100,000 in the previous week’s report. Vaccine uptake data indicates that 36% of those under 65 years in a clinical risk group, 31.9% of pregnant women and 71.4% of all those aged 65 years and over have been vaccinated so far this season – a lower percentage compared to the same time last year. Keep those flu jabs coming!! Also this week, RSV is hovering at medium levels of activity, with increases seen in most age groups, the highest activity is in under 5's at the moment— there is some sign of stabilisation in the number of infants needing seen in hospital emergency departments for bronchiolitis, the main clinical condition associated with RSV.

6th Dec: Congratulations to our travel health matriarch, Jane Chiodini for her honorary fellowship with the RCPSG. She's been an inspiration to travel healthers around the world for years. What would we do without Jane?

6th Dec: This article caught my eye and maybe the title will catch yours too? New Cancer Vaccines on the Horizon: Renewed Hope or Hype?

9th Dec: Vaccine update has landed. This information had passed me by from September, so posting it here in case you weren't aware either. Please note that on 12 September 2024 aQIV has received approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to be licensed from age 50 years and over. This means that those who are 64 years old turning 65 by the 31 March 2025 (and therefore eligible for flu vaccination) no longer have to be offered the vaccine ‘off-label’ as this will now be within the terms of the license. The Influenza chapter of the Green Book will be updated to reflect this new license age. However, for this year providers should follow the 2024 to 2025 annual flu letter reimbursement advice and the written instructions of the existing PGD. This means that the vaccine will not be reimbursed if offered to anyone outside of the older age cohort during the 2024 to 2025 season and can only be given under a PSD.

10th Dec: This leaflet for pregnant women has now been updated to include RSV

10th Dec: First cucumbers, now sprouts! Try not to let this salmonella outbreak from sprouts put you off your Christmas dinner later this month!

11th Dec: UKHSA blogs of interest: How human organs grown in labs are helping to develop the vaccines of the future and How we monitor invasive mosquitoes and stop them spreading in the UK

and this is flippin' AWESOME! Harmless skin bacteria engineered to immunise mice against tetanus and diphtheria

11th Dec: The World Malaria Report 2024 has been published. Very disappointing to see the amount of cases reaching 263 million in 2023. I am particularly interested in the parts on inequalities, it was a bit of an eye-opener. Get the kettle on for a BIG read. The Guardian reported on it if you want a quick summary.

12th Dec: Book your place at the fabulous joint RCN/NaTHNaC travel health conference- registration is now open! Always a great event!

14th Dec 2024: Another sad and preventable rabies death. 27-Year-Old Man Dies Of Rabies After Stray Dog And Cat Bites In Kalyan; Delayed Vaccine Blamed

16th Dec: You probably know that I always love a light-hearted article with a deeper, darker, more serious undertone. And this one didn't disappoint. Living happily ever after? The hidden health risks of Disney princesses. Reminds me of the James Bond piece in TMAID which I really loved and wrote a review about for the BGTHA in 2021: No time to die: An in-depth analysis of James Bond's exposure to infectious agents. Who says academic reading and writing can't be fun as well as informative?

17th Dec 2024: You probably also know I love an intriguing article title. This one doesn't disappoint: Why cats are the new pigs – and could spark the next pandemic. There also happen to be some VERY CUTE pictures in this article. Check it out! (it might put you off sleeping with your cat on your bed though).

18th Dec 2024: Lovely little poster from ISTM on the health BENEFITS of travel! The fact sheet was inspired by a presentation from ISTM President Gerard Flaherty at the NECTM this year. I personally really enjoyed that presentation. It also sparked an episode of ISTM's Travel Unravelled podcast about the health benefits of travel. I'm also really loving all the journal articles that are focusing on AI in travel medicine lately and looking forward to getting through some articles I've saved around it on my very long reading list over Christmas.

19th Dec 2024: Information is published every two years by the WHO on yellow fever requirements for each member state and we can expect to see some country recommendation changes in 2025. Remember that one of the joys of travel health is that it can actually be detrimental to commit things to memory so remember to keep forgetting everything you have learned about each country requirement - always consult the database!!

19th Dec 2024: Read all about why California has declared a state of emergency because of bird flu (also worth a read if you are not sure what milk has got to do with flu...)

20th Dec 2024: The Rwandan government today declared the end of the country's Marburg virus outbreak, after passing 42 days with no new cases since the last patient was discharged from the hospital and tested twice to confirm negative. The time period represents two virus incubation periods.

24th Dec 2024: Interesting bit of info: The most visited pages last Christmas Day and Boxing Day on the NHSE website were on alcohol, burns, rabies and animal bites. Careful what kind of parties you are throwing this Christmas!

24th Dec 2024: Updates to the smallpox and mpox Green Book chapter: Updated epidemiology following clade I cases in UK and clarification of advice in the event of a failed intradermal administration.

24th Dec 2024: An increase in cases of Dengue, Oropouche and Zika have been reported in the Caribbean. Check out Travel Health Pros' advice on this increase in IBD's here.

25th Dec 2024: HAPPY CHRISTMAS ALL :-)

28th Dec 2024: Daily express article about 2024 being the 'year of the cancer vaccine'. It postulates that in the years to come, vaccines may become a common part of cancer treatment to cut risk of recurrence. Good stuff that if it comes off!

And to finish the year off on kind of a positive forward-looking note? Here is the WHO priority list for vaccine development - with a focus on avoiding certain biases in the industry. It begins by saying "Vaccine development is traditionally driven by financial return opportunities for investors, disease outbreaks, and a specific focus on emerging diseases. However, a new systematic, transparent, and inclusive approach aims to prioritise pathogens based on socioeconomic and public health criteria." Among the factors considered in the analysis were the contribution to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), highlighting the growing recognition of the role of vaccines in reducing the burden of AMR. The list comprises 17 priority pathogens, with five classified as priorities in all regions and six identified as critical in specific areas.

November 2024 news

4th Nov: Two more cases of Mpox Clade 1b in the UK. They are household contacts of the first case, which is not a surprise really.

4th Nov: New malaria drug? Single dose? WOW

4th Nov: A headline which is just to intriguing not to share. Could Dengue, Zika, Yellow fever and all the other mosquito borne diseases be in trouble with this novel finding? Novel way to beat dengue: Deaf mosquitoes stop having sex

...And while we are on interesting titles..... A new device for delivering drugs without needles draws inspiration from the elegant squid

5th Nov: WHO study lists top endemic pathogens for which new vaccines are urgently needed

6th Nov: This useful public document has been updated for parents and carers about the pre-school vaccines. Thanks Jaz, for pointing out the updated version! The common questions in it are useful for queries that can arise in vaccination settings, especially when it comes to little ones. I've also added this to the consultation tools section of the website.

7th Nov: ANOTHER (household contact) case of mpox bringing the total UK cases to 4.

8th Nov: I know this is American and not UK guidance, but the UK often looks to America for evidence around recommendations. I thought it was interesting to see the recommendations in America for certain vaccines programmes after the latest advisory committee meeting (their version of the JCVI). Could this give us a clue about what we can expect in the UK? Or is it simply a different way of doing things?

Some points of note in the American guidance are:

• They have lowered the age of PCV from 65 to age 50 in America. The rate of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) among Black adults aged 50 or older exceeds the average rate of IPD for all adults aged 65 or older. The goal of this age-based change is to reduce disease in demographic groups with the highest burden of disease. FUN FACT: did you know that there are two 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and one 31-valent pneumococcal conjugated vaccine in development?

• In America two doses of MenACWY are routinely recommended, with the first dose at age 11-12 and a second dose at age 16. FUN FACT: did you know that there is a new pentavalent vaccine from Pfizer (brand name Penbraya) that combines MenACWY with the MenB vaccine? And another pentavalent vaccine version by GSK is up for regulatory decision in February 2025.

• RSV vaccine has both age and risk-based recommendations in America. Everyone aged 75 or older has a dose of RSV vaccine. Adults aged 60-75 with risk factors for severe RSV are also recommended to receive a dose of RSV vaccine. The conditions associated with increased risk for severe RSV disease include lung disease, heart disease, immune compromise, diabetes, obesity with BMI of 40 or higher, neurologic or neuromuscular conditions, chronic kidney disease, liver disorders, and hematologic disorders. Frailty, as well as living in a nursing home or other long-term care facility, are other risk factors for severe RSV disease. FUN FACT: did you know that there are three RSV vaccines? Two are protein subunit vaccines. One is by Pfizer (brand name Abrysvo) that does not contain an adjuvant. The other protein-based RSV vaccine by GSK (brand name Arexvy) does contain an adjuvant. The third RSV vaccine by Moderna (brand name mRESVIA) uses an mRNA platform. Only Abrysvo can be given during pregnancy. Unlike in the UK where we give RSV vaccine in every pregnancy, in America they do not give again for subsequent pregnancies. However, infants born to women who were vaccinated during a prior pregnancy should receive nirsevimab.

11th Nov: Wondering why it all went quiet around the combined flu and COVID-19 vaccine? Read all about it here.

12th Nov: A couple of branding changes to some UKHSA docs: Rabies risk for travellers leaflet and the bat leaflet.

12th Nov: Teenager in critical condition with Canada’s first human case of bird flu

12th Nov: The guidance for managing meningococcal disease has also had some updates lately - in September there was a big update, and then in October there was an addition about the sharing of Shisha, and this month the ciprofloxacin section was updated.

13th Nov: Check out this very important bit of advice around potential changes to Shingles vaccine eligibility from the JCVI - and watch that space!

13th Nov: The October JCVI meeting minutes have been published. Do have a look at what they have been discussing and why. It's always tricky when things change, but knowing the rationale goes a long way towards accepting the changes and embracing them.

14th Nov: Another one to watch. Check out the Spring COVID-19 vaccine programme advice. Using the bespoke, non-standard cost-effectiveness assessment developed by DHSC, JCVI advises that the following groups should be offered COVID-19 vaccination in spring 2025: adults aged 75 years and over, residents in a care home for older adults, and individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed. Autumn 2025 and spring 2026 look set to be similar. If you are interested in the financial side of things as well, it's a useful read for the details and the rationales.

14th Nov: Oh dear. This was quite shocking. The WHO have worked out what our measles stats were looking like during 2023. Unfortunately, worldwide, there were an estimated 10.3 million cases of measles in 2023, a 20% increase from 2022. The WHO blames it on low uptake of vaccination, describing measles deaths as; "an unacceptable death toll". I am inclined to agree. The WHO Director-General sums it up when he says, "Measles vaccine has saved more lives than any other vaccine in the past 50 years".

15th Nov: Vaccine update has landed today. Also the Shingrix PGD has been updated to remove Zostavax, which is now obsolete.

15th Nov: Now, I don't want to get too political: There are certain conversations that are reserved for 'down the pub'. However, this headline worries me a tad; RFK Jr chosen as Donald Trump's health secretary - as president-elect says he will do 'unbelievable things'. I'm worried about what these 'unbelievable things' will be in relation to vaccines, given this chap's views... he's already talking of getting rid of fluoride in water. Since winning the presidency, President-elect Trump has nominated several controversial picks to lead America’s public health agencies. These include Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a noted vaccine skeptic who has expressed a desire to cut the NIH workforce and refocus the agency on chronic diseases over infectious diseases, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services; Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a health economist who criticised public health measures during the COVID-19 response and a vocal critic of NIH, to lead NIH; and Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Congressman who has questioned vaccine safety, to lead CDC. Join me in the pub for further thoughts.

18th Nov: Vaccine uptake in school children for 2023/2024 report is out. some highlights are that 52.2% (3,498,576 out of 6,708,016 ) of school-aged children who were eligible in both seasons (Reception to Year 9 combined) were vaccinated, compared with 51.9% (3,502,566 out of 6,747,523) in the 2022 to 2023 season. So, a slight increase on last year, but still way lower than we would like. The secondary school age children cohort was the highest uptake seen in a season for that group, however they were also the lowest uptake cohort out of them all at 42.9% uptake. Highest uptake last year was primary school kids at 55.1%.

19th Nov: First case of mpox clade 1b in the USA.

20th Nov: There's a new postcard from UKHSA to remind people about getting their shingles vaccines- check it out!

20th Nov: Sad news for Pakistan (and humankind in general) as they hit their 50th case of polio this year: A 20 month old girl who has been paralysed from something that so easily could have been prevented. They have also had more than 20,000 cases of dengue this year in Pakistan.

20th Nov: This malaria vaccine is delivered by a mosquito bite. Bites from insects infected with modified malaria parasites boosted immunity and stopped people from contracting the disease. I love all this stuff!!!

21st Nov: More promotional material updates- there's been an update to some of the vaccination in pregnancy leaflets to include RSV.

And while we are on the topic of RSV, well done everyone!! We have hit over 1 million RSV vaccinations administered in just the first two months of the programme. That's down to YOU!!! A recent study in the Lancet showed that the RSV vaccination programme could prevent 5,000 hospitalisations and 15,000 A&E attendances for infants – a critical, life-saving step forward to help front line staff prepare for increased winter pressures. The same modelling also suggests that the first season of the older adult’s catch-up programme alone could prevent around 2,500 hospital admissions, 15,000 GP visits and 60,000 RSV illnesses in adults in the older age group.

22nd Nov: Two important updates to the Green Book: Chapter 2 (Consent) & Chapter 8 (Adverse event management). Get the kettle on for some reading! Chapter 2 is mainly clarifying some things. However, chapter 8 in particular has had quite an extensive update with highlights being: Updates to the WHO definitions of adverse events following immunisation. Updates to immunisation error and vaccine product adverse event sections. New paragraphs defining anxiety related adverse events and vaccine product quality adverse events. Changes to managing common vaccine-induced AEFIs to include management fever following Bexsero. Changes to the section on thiomersal to clarify that this is no longer used in vaccines routinely administered to children. New section on hypotonic-hyporesponsive episodes following vaccination. AND extensive re-write of the section on recognition and management of anaphylaxis. Lots of updates, PHEW!

22nd Nov: A new blood surveillance project has begun to monitor tropical disease carriage in donors. Very important as some tropical diseases are not just 'tropical' anymore... climate change is driving diseases spread by migrating insects such as TBE, WNV and Usutu further north.

23rd Nov: To all nursing support workers: HAPPY NURSING SUPPORT WORKERS DAY!!! Hope you have plenty of brews made for you this week :-) (hint hint, fellow nurses)

28th Nov: This article 'Researchers Are Exploring the Role of Shingles—and a Protective Role of Shingles Vaccine—in Dementia' was written last month and explores some of the considerations when spotting correlations between seemingly-linked observations that may or may not be connected. A good one to read if you are interested in critical analysis, referring to a familiar vaccine 'Shingrix' in relation to the recent (and very exciting) claims that is can lower dementia risk.

28th Nov: Good news regarding Men C, but not so good for Men B... Press release: UK on brink of defeating meningococcal C

29th Nov: Flu cases have jumped by three times the rates at this point last year - and it's come early too :-(

And to finish the month off, a fifth case of Mpox Clade 1b has been found in the UK. This one is following travel to Uganda and is unrelated to the previous four UK cases. Fortunately, despite the higher death rate with Clade 1b, all of the first four cases are recovered now. It's well worth being prepared for any further cases. In development is a new trial to assess the vaccine in pregnant women and infants. This is reassuring.

CPD opportunities coming up soon:

Flu webinar (free) on 3rd Dec at 6-7pm.

PCN Live in London 7th March 2025.

free arbovirus webinar 26th Nov 9-7pm

Disappointing start to November :( Last week it was all over the news about swabbing skin (or not) prior to administering injections. A B12 injection was given by a nurse following the GB guidelines who did not swab the skin -in line with the guidance. The patient sadly died of sepsis and the coroner ruled that it was due to the B12 injection. Guidance has NOT changed, however, the coroner has appealed for a review to the UKHSA. Keep an eye on that one. The news has occasionally referred to B12 as 'a vaccine' too which it is NOT. It is of course, a vitamin. Once again, vaccines (and nurses) have been negatively (and unjustly) portrayed. I've written a blog about it. Find it here.

October 2024 news

Happy October!! How's the RSV programme going for you? Hope you have managed to get some headway with it now we have started the adult flu vaccines as of 3rd Oct.

Here's some October news I've spotted....

The second update in 2 months to the Varicella Green Book chapter was published on the last day of September. This change was following the withdrawal of VZIG, including use of iv Varitect CP for Group 1 neonates at highest risk of severe varicella. The RSV Green book Chapter was also updated 1st Oct to link to the immunisation programme letters.

Also just before September came to close I noticed this article: Study shows gradual waning of MMR vaccine effectiveness over time. The waning is small, but may have significance, especially in under-vaccinated populations.

Can you discern misinformation? Try this test of misinformation susceptibility.

On 3rd October the COVID-19 Autumn booster guidance was updated. And in alignment with this the COVID-19 vaccinator competency assessment tool and training recommendation documents were also updated. On the same day, I presented a short webinar about the Shingles programme which will be available to watch soon. I will post the link when available.

4th October: Another very sad (and likely preventable) death: Canadian child dies from rabies after bat found in bedroom. Thanks Fray, for sharing this article. And here's another death 2 months after a bat contact in Minnesota at the end of September: Minnesota reports rare human death from rabies.

4th October: The topic of pregnancy and vaccination is at the forefront of our minds at the minute, with flu season upon us, soaring pertussis rates and low vaccine uptake, plus the new RSV programme on the go. This article links to some CDC data that helps put things in perspective when it comes to the risk of vaccination Vs the risk of disease: Here’s Why Getting a COVID Shot During Pregnancy Is Important. Some useful statistics to note from the original CDC report are that COVID-19–associated hospitalisation rates among infants aged <6 months (too young to be vaccinated) remain higher than those among any other age group except adults aged ≥75 years. Their hospitalisation rates were comparable to hospitalisation rates in adults aged 65–74 years. Among approximately 1,000 hospitalised infants with COVID-19, 22% were admitted to an intensive care unit, and nine died while hospitalised. 87% of these were babies born to unvaccinated women.

5th October: Fancy signing up for a norovirus vaccine trial? A much needed bit of medicine.

6th October: Some important news highlighted by Danielle (thankyou): Rwanda starts vaccine trials against deadly Marburg virus. Timely news as the outbreak in Rwanda continues... This one kills roughly half the people it infects....

8th October: Vaccine update has landed! Highlights: Last year’s data shows that those who received a COVID-19 vaccine were around 45% less likely to be admitted to hospital with COVID-19, compared to those who did not receive one. But protection wanes 3 to 6 months following vaccination. That is why for those who are most vulnerable, we must keep going with those booster doses for the most vulnerable groups. There is a new online platform for reporting notifiable diseases. Have you ever browsed the NOIDS reports? It's a bit of a rabbit hole... very interesting though. Measles arrrggghh - nearly 1 in 6 children have not received both doses of the MMR vaccine by the age of 5. Keep going with those catch ups everyone!! There is a new NHS toolkit to help us out, alongside the latest marketing campaign which has started this month. Following the first wave of the campaign, parents and carers reported that after seeing the campaign they took action to check their child was vaccinated and protected. These actions included: 41% checked if their child’s vaccines were up to date, 37% contacted their GP, 19% went online to find out more, 17% spoke to their friends or family and 13% booked their child in for their evaluations. There are links to get NHS stickers as well in this edition - stickers work!! Who doesn't love a sticker? ....

9th October: Interested in a bit of a debrief on where we are at with Shingles vaccination? I delivered a webinar last week which was recorded and freely available to watch here. And another useful webinar is one provided by the ISTM called Rabies in Travelers: Deadly but Preventable and this is available for free on the ISTM YouTube channel.

10th October: Have you heard the descriptors of 'airport malaria' or 'luggage malaria'? Well you have now... Surge in malaria cases linked to aircraft-transported mosquitoes. And with the concerning outbreak in Rwanda, more news about Marburg vaccines: How far are we from a licensed vaccine for deadly Marburg?

14th October: I'm struggling to find the right connection here between my website content and the topic of this interesting article, but the title alone is just too intriguing not to share.... Death Cafes: Demystifying the Inevitable Over Tea and Cookies

14th October: The PGD template (formally named the smallpox PGD) for mpox (formally named monkeypox) has been updated. If you work in a clinical area make sure you have also seen this guidance on preparation for any cases.

15th October: LOOK WHAT IS FINALLY HERE!!! YAY!!! The Green Book chapter for Dengue. Got to admire those detailed flow charts to aid with decision making. Phew! I'm going to tuck into that properly tonight. I've updated the Dengue section in the vaccine portal with this lovely new information too.

16th October: Brilliant article: Is it time to freak out about bird flu?

also 16th October: Valneva and LimmaTech awarded FDA fast track designation for tetravalent Shigella vaccine candidate S4V. I love how Valneva seem to get mainly involved with lesser known diseases or ones with unmet need. They seem very ethical to me. Hopefully their chikungunya vaccine will be with us soon too...

22nd October: Interesting (yet worrying) trend noted: Cases of tuberculosis in Scotland rose 40% last year. Public Health Scotland (PHS) data shows there were 283 confirmed cases of the disease in 2023 – a 40.8% increase from the 201 recorded the previous year.

23rd October: Egypt declared malaria-free by WHO! Yay! Some great news there. Just FYI, a country can apply to the WHO for elimination certification once certain criteria are met. Countries must prove that nationwide, local transmission of all types of human malaria parasites have been interrupted for at least the past three consecutive years. Countries are also required to show they have a fully functional surveillance and response system in place to prevent re-establishment of local transmission. GO EGYPT!! THEY DID IT!!!

24th October: Moderna are funding trials for the norovirus vaccine. Very exciting that one of the trail sites is in my hometown of Manchester. I may sign up as a volunteer... It could be with us by 2026 if all goes well (and if the JCVI agrees). Game changer for our very young and elderly populations in particular. THIS IS NEEDED!!

25th October: The latest weekly flu surveillance data published by UKHSA today shows flu case numbers are twice as high among school children, aged 5 to 14 years. As of 22nd October, influenza positivity - the rate of laboratory confirmed flu cases - among school children aged 5 to 14 years is higher than any other age group, at a weekly average positivity rate of 5.7% compared with a whole population weekly average of 2.5%.

28th October: First-ever long-acting injectable for malaria prevention administered to study volunteer. First-in-human study explores a single injection that provides 3 months of protection. The more the merrier when it comes to malaria prevention options!

29th October: With Halloween nearly upon us, it seems fitting to talk about a 'sylvania' (*groan*). A group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has developed an mRNA vaccine, delivered via lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) — the same type as the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines — targeting Clostridioides difficile (formerly Clostridium difficile). Have a read of this article; New mRNA Vaccine May Shield Against C difficile Infections. This research adds to the growing field of mRNA research coming out of this part of the world, which I keep noticing popping up. This university has designed mRNA vaccines to prevent Lyme disease, norovirus, and herpes simplex virus 2. They are also studying how mRNA can treat sickle cell disease, fatal food allergies, and cancer. The peadiatric contingent is developing novel ionizable lipids and biomaterials for vaccine and gene therapy applications in perinatal and pediatric medicine, expanding on the successes of the mRNA-LNP platform, studying mRNA vaccines and therapeutics that can be used to treat glycogen storage disease type 1a (GSD1a) and Isolated Methylmalonic Acidemia, as well as continued research into various difficult-to-treat forms of cancer and bacterial infections. Go Pennsylvania!

29th October: Noninvasive malaria test could be global game changer. NO BLOOD OR INVASIVE PROCEDURES NEEDED! You just need a complicated-sounding laser and a hand - incredible stuff!! Can we work out how to do vaccines this way too PLEEEEASE?......

29th October: First Children Vaccinated in New Clinical Study Seeking to Expand the Indication for Bavarian Nordic’s Mpox Vaccine

29th October: Tuberculosis has pipped COVID-19 to the post now for being the top cause for infectious disease-related death in 2023. If you are involved in TB services (or even if you're not) it's worth a read of the latest WHO report. But if you just want the highlights, it's generally bad news. Last year 8.2 million people were newly diagnosed. This is the highest number reported since reporting began (1995). There were less deaths (1.09 million) - but more people (roughly 10.8 million) unwell with it. The targets for reducing it are all messed up too. We are in for a rough ride trying to meet those eradication goals :-(

30th October: What an end to the month - oh no!! The UKHSA has detected a single confirmed human case of Clade Ib mpox in the UK. A recent visitor to a known infected area of Africa. This is not great news :-( Germany also reported their first case on the 22nd October.

I don't want to end October on a bad note though. These fact sheets were a nice little discovery this month from the GHTC. Have a nosey at all the research that is going on in a pleasingly easily-digestible format.

September 2024 news

Good luck all to with the RSV programme starting this month!!! In time for the launch the UKHSA has now updated all the useful cheat sheets: The routine imms schedule, visual guide to vaccines poster and the incomplete algorithm to account for RSV (on the 30th August). Spring cleaning time: Destroy any old printed versions!

4th September 2024: I sent my kids (age 6 & 8) back to school today wondering what infectious disease we will all have contracted by next week. Measles? Pertussis? RSV? Oropouche? Could it be something entirely novel even? Today WHO launched a global framework for understanding the origins of new or re-emerging pathogens

.... We are braced and ready.

2nd September. Where are we at with HIV vaccination? HIV: how close are we to a vaccine — or a cure?

4th September: Evidence emerging from America that RSV vaccines have been shown to reduce hospitalisation in the older age groups by 75%. Promising stuff! Meanwhile, some news articles and social media posts may result in the need for important reassuring conversations with pregnant ladies. Get ahead of any queries by knowing the background! Here are some useful articles sent to me (by my muse and unofficial mentor, Jasmin Amoroso) to browse. Key message: TIMING IS EVERYTHING!

• Perinatal Outcomes After RSV Vaccination During Pregnancy—Addressing Emerging Concerns

• Study details why phase 3 trial of GSK's RSV vaccine for pregnant women was halted early

5th September: How mosquito spit could help develop therapies for arboviral diseases. Imagine a job where you work with mosquito spit! Delightful. Big thanks to those who do it.

11th September: Beware of Pesto! Pesto linked to botulism cases in France

11th September: I wrote a blog to answer the most common million-dollar question I have had in the last 4 weeks! Can HCA's administer RSV vaccines?

16th September: As Mpox continues to escalate in Africa, significant changes to the Green Book chapter on Mpox and Smallpox have been made to account for the current PHEIC situation. Worth a read! A new vaccine has achieved WHO pre-qualification (thanks for sharing this news Laura). And vaccines are being sent to Africa, but still not enough. Mpox vaccine efficacy was estimated at 80% in a recent UK study. NO-ONE who has had the Jynneos vaccine has been hospitalised with Mpox so far. Good stuff eh? However, this study was with regard to the clade 2 strain that has been around in the UK since 2022. NOT the more deadly counterpart Clade 1.

Also on 16th September the Green Book chapter on COVID-19 has been updated to include the Autumn vaccine booster prog details. The Mpox and Smallpox chapter was updated the same day with significant updates to include information on recent increase in clade I MPXV, new information on vaccine effectiveness, and advice on outbreak response.

17th September: The very handy 'which COVID vaccine' poster has been updated. If I have given you this on a course you have done recently - please make sure you have the latest one!!!

18th September: The latest over 5's COVID-19 national protocol has arrived! Along with an article in the BMJ about a struck-off GP for spreading conspiracy theories about COVID-19. He really should have known better... Like Kate Shemerani and Andrew Wakefield, this is just another example of health professionals undermining public health efforts. NOT HELPFUL GUYS!

20th September: This news item from NaTHNaC has some useful info in it for the occupational healthers out there who crossover with travel health. Check out the 'returning workers scheme'.

27th September : Vaccine uptake data for all programmes. Shingrix uptake added to this dataset which you can find HERE. It's a little disappointing that up to July 2024 only 16.8% of immunosupressed patients eligible to receive a first dose of Shingrix actually received a first dose up to 23rd July 2024. Join me for a free shingles webinar on the 3rd October to discuss further and gain some tips ...

Lovely CPD opportunities! Are you available to attend some free webinars on Dengue fever? Takeda are running a series of three in the next few weeks. (17th 24th Sept and 1st Oct). There is a webinar on 2nd October hosted by Valneva with one of my fave travel health specialists, Derek Evans on Japanese Encephalitis. Register here.

August 2024 news

I wonder what August will bring.....

2nd August: For starters an updated Cholera chapter in the Green Book. Finally Vaxchora has a mention! Check it out. Also in the world of tropical medicine, Oropouche virus has been making the rounds. Not sure what Oropouche is? Check out this information sheet on NaTHNaC. Don't forget to keep a close eye on outbreak notifications when you are consulting with travellers. This news item appeared 2/8/24. Oropouche is particularly risky for people who are pregnant. (This article was later published on the 9th aug, and this one on the 13th Aug, both very informative).

And later that day, while I had a glass of Rose in my hand (it was Friday afterall), this arrived: Government accepts advice on 2024 autumn COVID-19 vaccine programme. Don't worry, I had to read it a few times too.... and I don't think that was entirely down to the wine. Then the full COVID Autumn guidance came through here.

AND just after THAT the RSV Vaccine Update special arrived too! The PGD template is also here for RSV. Portal updated. And on top of THAT, the ELFHC influenza module was updated.

And good news on the very SAME day for the travel healthers! Pre-registration became open for the fabulous CISTM conference in New Orleans! Also a reminder that registration is also open for the awesome BGTHA conference on the 16th November (half day, virtual) - very reasonably priced and always a great conference to attend. The wonderful RCN and NaTHNaC joint annual event is scheduled for 22nd March 2025 (virtual) too. Consider signing up for these free arbovirus webinar events run by the RCPSG starting in September. This Arbovirus Webinar Series aims to provide travel health providers with an introduction to these arbovirus infections, the vectors, prevention and control strategies. The three one-hour webinars will run on 23 September, 30 October, and 26 November 2024. Registration is free.

Lots happened on the 2nd August!

And one more thing: the WHO has updated it's list of most dangerous viruses and bacteria... be brave, check it out! This article was published in reference to it on (you guessed it) 2nd August: What could spark the next pandemic?....

5th August: Information for healthcare practitioners Influenza guidance updated for 24/25 season

Also on the same day this was published. Uh Oh....WHO chief poised to declare international health emergency as mpox spreads in Africa. Travellers to the following countries should be made aware of the risk of disease: DRC, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Cameroon, Gabon, Angola, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia. I guess we will await any potential vaccine recommendations in due course. Anecdotally, I have heard lots about private clinics getting inundated with requests for the vaccine, which is not available yet privately as far as I know. Since the WHO announcement, unsuprisingly, Bavarian Nordic’s share price has shot up by 48% (it's the only company with an approved Mpox vaccine). They are ramping up manufacturing to supply 2 million doses this year and 8 million doses in 2025 to contain the virus in Africa. Meanwhile, Roche are preparing to ramp up lab testing capacity too.

8th August: Another sad infant death from pertussis which brings the UK death toll to 10. This outbreak since November has brought 10,000 cases of the disease. True numbers will likely be much higher as mild cases often go unreported, but here are all the recorded stats up to June 2024.

And more statistics arrived on this day too - the Shingles vaccine year-end uptake data for 23/24. You can find all the vaccine uptake statistics here. Need a hand with uptake? Visit this section of the site to find out more.

9th August: imported cases of Oropouche to the EU. In June and July 2024, 19 imported cases of Oropouche virus disease were reported for the first time in EU countries: Spain (12), Italy (5), and Germany (2). 18 of these had travelled from Cuba and one from Brazil. Recently, the Brazilian Ministry of Health reported 6 possible cases of OROV disease being passed from mother-to-child during pregnancy.

12th August: USA approves nasal adrenaline! Fun fact - it has a REALLY CUTE name 'Neffy'. awwww

13th August: the varicella chapter has been updated in the Green book to reflect the new post-exposure guidance which was published earlier in the year.

14th August: Arrrrgggghhhhhhhh my predictions are coming true :-( WHO Director-General declares mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern

15th August. Understandably, there is a lot of concern around Mpox now. It's in all the papers. See this guardian article for instance.

16th August. On top of worrying about Mpox and Oropouche fighting for our attention, also close to home is West Nile virus. Since the beginning of 2024, 9 countries in Europe reported human cases of West Nile virus infection: Austria, Croatia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia and Spain. See the most recent ECDC epidemiological summary here.

Also mega sad, is that the first case of polio has been confirmed in a 10-month-old child in Gaza. This article later appeared in the news on 30th August: WHO delivers 1.2m polio vaccine doses to Gaza as pauses in fighting agreed. Three-day humanitarian pauses in several areas planned to allow inoculation of more than 640,000 children.

16th August: Well, HELLO THERE to this years flu poster :-) One of my favourite cheat sheets - thanks for the heads up Laura!

20th August: Only just heard about this today (thankyou Fiona). Worth looking at this advice about rabipur reconstitution before ordering in the supplies THAT ARE NOW AVAILABLE TO ORDER AGAIN!! Yay!

22nd August: Thailand's first case of the Clade 1 strain of Mpox

22nd August: Back to school Vaccine Update special landed

22nd August: New Zealand rushes vaccination of endangered birds before deadly strain of H5N1 bird flu arrives

23rd August: National PGD template updated for Smallpox vaccine

23rd August: The news came alive with tales of a lung cancer vaccine! Very promising news! Also THIS: The New Formula for Stronger, Longer-Lasting Vaccines

23rd August: Some clarity in the Shingles programme! Clarifications made in the 2 sections about severely immunosuppressed individuals who received Zostavax prior to becoming immunosuppressed in the guidance for healthcare practitioners document. Here are some extracts (but do get familiar with the whole thing): "Severely immunosuppressed individuals (definition in the Green Book Shingles chapter 28a) who were given Zostavax, pre immunosuppressive treatment, should be given 2 doses of Shingrix vaccine when they reach, or if they have reached, the eligible age for vaccination on the national programme (currently 50 years for severely immunosuppressed with no upper age limit)...Immunocompetent and mildly immunosuppressed individuals given Zostavax prior to becoming eligible for the national programme should be offered shingles vaccine once they reach the eligible age for the routine programme, leaving an interval of at least one year since they received Zostavax vaccine...Immunocompetent individuals who received Zostavax previously on the routine immunisation programme (between 70 and 79 years of age) are not eligible for additional doses of shingles vaccine and should not be revaccinated or offered Shingrix now. However, individuals who were given Zostavax routinely as part of the national programme and who have since become severely immunosuppressed can be offered 2 doses of Shingrix vaccine at a minimum interval of 8 weeks apart.. There is no reason to leave any interval after previous Zostavax vaccine for this group."

26th August: RSV is hitting BBC news with some cautionary tales like this article: Mum urges pregnant women to take up RSV vaccine and first-ever Phase 2 Lassa vaccine clinical trial now fully active across West Africa

To finish the month off I noticed this article about Pertussis uptake was published in the BMJ on 29th August. Here's an extract that forms a good reflection opportunity: "Ongoing analysis of data from England shows that whooping cough vaccine, when given at the right time in pregnancy, provides 92% protection against infant death. Yet its uptake in England, from a high of 72.6% in March 2017, has now declined to 58.9%". We MUST get this higher!!!

Dengue Green Book chapter WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUUU?.....

I'd love to know how colleagues in Scotland are getting on this month having started the RSV programme earlier than England. Let me know how it's going!!!!

What's the best way to present this news page?? There's always so much happening and I feel it could be more aesthetically pleasing. Any ideas? contact me if so....

July 2024 news what a busy month!!

• Did you watch the Malaria vaccine documentary on BBC2? Don't worry if you missed it - watch here. Incredible advancement! It's the talk of the town in the travel health community. Best thing that's happened in preventative tropical medicine for a LONG time!

• Vaccine Update has landed! (it says June edition but was published 18th July so you didn't miss anything). Expect a special on RSV very soon!!!

• We have reached 9 infant deaths from Pertussis now since Nov 2023. May saw 2591 cases according to the July data. A POIGNANT REMINDER OF WHY WE ARE DOING THIS JOB!

• I've updated RSV in the vaccine portal with some more useful documents for the upcoming RSV prog (check out the video on preparing the vaccine). The vaccine info is coming thick and fast! The updated Green Book chapter landed 12th July. PGD should be coming next... keep an eye out. More useful RSV info is coming all the time so keep an eye on GOV.UK for everything you need. I can't quite keep up!! For quick reference go HERE for the pregnancy information and HERE for information on the adult vaccination programme.

• I've also added some tools to the Travel Health section, and conference info about TB vaccines to the TB portal.

• UK immunisation schedule poster updated to reflect pertussis change of vaccine and also Men ACWY vaccine change for adolescent program. The visual guide to vaccines poster has also been updated. Flu protocols and PGD's have landed. The Td/IPV PGD has been updated on the 10th July too. All associated portals have been updated in response.

• Chikungunya vaccine achieves European approval. Read all about IXICHIQ here.

• Lyme vaccines are passing milestone trials yay!

• Valneva supply the vaccines PreHevbri, Dukoral, Ixiaro, and Rabipur. They have a good supply updates page here if you want to know what stock is knocking about. Currently, for example, it's showing that Ixiaro is in good supply (but has April 2025 expiry), PreHevbri and Dukoral are well-stocked. Rabipur stock may improve back to normal THIS MONTH - YAY!!! (Valneva, incidentally, have also got some FABULOUS travel health resources, training modules, and free things you can order such as leaflets and vaccine record cards - I personally love the 'rabies tear off pad' - so useful to give to travellers)

• Bird flu - more cases... arggghhh

• EEEK: fears of Polio outbreaks in Gaza....

• OH NO - malaria treatment resistance is a BIG problem. See this BBC news article.

• Mpox is being pretty sneaky (and a little sinister I may add) - I've noticed it popping up in articles a fair bit....this one in the BMJ talks about 20 new cases and 3 deaths from it in the last two months (since May) in South Africa. And this one highlights 130 cases of a particularly deadly strain (clade 1b) in children in DRC in just the last 4 weeks. DRC has reported over 29,000 cases and 1,100 fatalities from Mpox since Jan 2023. Most of them children. Keep an eye on this one. It has 'pandemic potential' and the clade 1b variant kills 10% of its victims...

• Genetically modified mosquitoes. I love all this stuff about harnessing them to do GOOD.

• 'Active' vaccine adjuvant boosts COVID-19 and flu antibodies in mice

• This issue with the NMC culture makes me very sad. Have you got a happy culture at work? I really hope so..... How do YOU contribute to that? Good reflection opportunity.

• Looks like the USA are also figuring out the implementation of an RSV vaccination programme too! Although they have decided on 60 as the age of vaccination for older adults. There's a bit of info in this Medscape article about GSK's Arexvy vaccine as well.

• Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable infections in newborns in the UK, and a significant cause of newborn infections and stillbirths worldwide. As such, GBS is a leading driver of antibiotic use in neonatal settings, and antimicrobial resistance is increasing. VDEC has supported a GBS vaccine! This will be another game changer for infant death and illness statistics AND antibiotic resistance. Bring it on GBS vaccines!!!

• Very sad preventable rabies death this year discussed in the Lancet - totally illustrates why rabies advice is super important!! Rabies in the Philippines: a call to action

• Thank you to Fray for sending me this fascinating article about Shingrix being linked with Dementa prevention!! Awesome side effect!

• Got your head around 24/25 flu season yet? The 25/26 info is already trickling through.... here's the JCVI statement for NEXT years vaccines!! Of particular interest is this bit: "The World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded that B/Yamagata lineages are no longer circulating and are unlikely to cause future epidemics, and that inclusion of a B/Yamagata antigen as a component of influenza vaccines is no longer warranted. WHO has stated that every effort should be made to exclude this as soon as possible, across all vaccine types. To this end, manufacturers have been preparing to move to trivalent formulations. In the USA, this will happen for the 2024 to 2025 season. In the UK the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) will move to a trivalent formulation in time for the 2024 to 2025 season."

• On the final day of July, sad news as the first case of Mpox is found in Kenya.

• And also the pneumococcal PGD template was updated to finish the month off. See the pneumococcal section in my portal for details.

Still tweaking away with this site and it's layout - I know a lot of it looks unfinished but I thought I should just be brave and get it out there... content over aesthetics ... I have had lots of useful constructive feedback so far. And I love some of the interesting news items people are sending to me. Keep it coming!! Help me to make this as useful as possible for YOU!!!

June 2024 news

• A bug bite slideshow appeared on Medscape - test your identification skills!

• Nasal adrenaline!!

• Previous Zika infection tied to increased risk of infection with some dengue virus subtypes

• Maternal pertussis program resources updated, along with occupational health guidance

• Why it's so challenging to develop vaccines for parasitic diseases

• Combined COVID-flu vaccines are coming: Moderna jab clears major test

• Uh oh.... A new Mpox strain on the loose? A new strain of mpox has been spreading quickly along eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. and also see here for containment measures? and this talks about a particularly virulent strain.

• Lassa fever vaccines? Phase 2 trials in progress....!

JUNE 2024 Big moment for me as I make this website LIVE for the first time!! Tell me what you think!

May 2024 news

• Article: New mRNA Vaccines in Development for Cancer and Infections

• Article: Scientists create vaccine with potential to protect against future coronaviruses

• Rotavirus 'information for healthcare practitioners' doc got a bit of a revamp. So did the training materials.

• Article: New vaccine approach shows promise in targeting less variable region of influenza virus. Longer lasting flu vaccines? Amazing stuff!

• Article: Cervical cancer - a thing of the past? Let's hope so - GO HPV VACCINE!!!!

• New TB vaccines ahead? GAVI and the Telegraph explain more...

• VDEC is supporting a GBS vaccine to prevent newborn deaths - Antimicrobial resistance to Group B Streptococcus (GBS) antibiotics is growing. This puts newborns at risk. Take that antibiotics!!! POW

April 2024 news

• Recurrent UTI Patients Find Long-Term Ally in Oral Vaccine. UTI vaccines! YAY!!

• Chlamydia vaccines?

• Parental attitudes survey results from 2023 are published. The findings help us to see how influential healthcare professionals really are when it comes to being a trusted source of information. Are YOU feeling confident and trustworthy?

• Worrying: Rabies patient becomes first fatal case in US after post-exposure treatment. Very sad.

March 2024 news

March seemed pretty quiet.... but come July ... BOOM!

February 2024 news

• Article: Is the 100-year old TB vaccine a new weapon against Alzheimer’s? - Incredible!

• This is an interesting read about pilots being done to try out Health Visitors giving childhood immunisations. Inspired by the National Vaccination Strategy which was published in December 2023. Watch this space!

January 2024 news

• Article: ‘Medicine is going personalised’: Moderna’s UK boss on the coming vaccine revolution

• UKHSA Article: How pathogen genomics could help us detect new health threats and improve vaccines

2023 and earlier....

DEC 2023 New vaccination strategy announced in UK. Could we start to widen the roles of who can vaccinate? Will immunisation start to feature more in foundation education? Will vaccine provision in England follow Scotland's 'hub' approach and start to come out of GP services?

DEC 2023 Article: No more needles? Scientists discover surprising new way to give vaccines

DEC 2023 NHS News: Booking a jab “as easy as booking a cab” in NHS App overhaul

DEC 2023 Valneva and Pfizer teaming up on phase 3 trial for a Lyme Disease vaccine see also here

OCT 2023 WHO recommended the use of malaria vaccines for the prevention of P. falciparum malaria in children living in malaria endemic areas, prioritising areas of moderate and high transmission. The first malaria vaccine, RTS,S, was recommended by WHO to prevent malaria in children in October 2021. The vaccine has reached nearly 2 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi through the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, MVIP, since 2019.

SEPT 2023 Article: ‘Future proof’ vaccine could offer protection against all coronaviruses. Cambridge scientists hopeful that jab could also protect against future diseases

AUG 2023 Creation of UKHSA's Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre (VDEC): The Vaccine Development Evaluation Centre (VDEC) at Porton Down in Wiltshire facilitates the development and evaluation of new vaccines and therapeutics.

MAY 2023 Close to home for me! first HUMAN receives Zika vaccine in Manchester!

MARCH 2023: Interesting study: Factors influencing influenza, pneumococcal and shingles vaccine uptake and refusal in older adults: a population-based cross-sectional study in England

JAN 2023 BCG vaccine and Type 1 Diabetes!!! How amazing is this promising data?

NOV 2022 Article: Novel Vaccine Approach Halts Disease After 23 Years of Breast Cancer

JUNE 2019 WHO guidance on use of the MR vaccine patch. YES - PATCH!