HPV vaccination programme for men who have sex with men

The government has confirmed that it will introduce a nationwide HPV vaccination programme for men aged 45 or younger who have sex with other men.

NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) will work to start the programme from April 2018, for those attending sexual health (GUM) clinics and HIV clinics in England.

Pneumococcal: the green book, chapter 25

Chapter 25 of the Green Book on pneumococcal has been updated.

Update on the use of adjuvanted trivalent flu vaccine for 2018-19 flu season

A new flu vaccine has been licenced and made available for use for 2018/19. A letter summarising the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation’s (JCVI) advice on adjuvanted trivalent flu vaccine (aTIV) was sent to NHS England local teams on 22 December.

The letter is intended to help support decisions on influenza vaccines for 2018/19. In particular the JCVI has advised the use of aTIV is a priority for those aged 75 and over, given that the non-adjuvanted inactivated vaccine has showed no significant effectiveness in this group over recent seasons. Funding is available for the use of the adjuvanted trivalent flu vaccine in those aged 75 and over in 2018/19.

Measles outbreaks in five areas across UK

Public Health England (PHE) has issued advice for the public to ensure they have had the MMR vaccine after outbreaks of measles are confirmed in five areas of England.

As of 8 December 2017, there have been 28 confirmed cases in Leeds, 18 confirmed cases in Liverpool, 13 confirmed cases in Birmingham, 7 confirmed cases in Surrey, and 4 confirmed cases in Manchester. All of the cases have been reported in children and adults who have not received 2 doses of the MMR vaccine.

Healthy Child Record Standard

The Professional Records Standards Body (PRSB) has launched a new set of information standards, to ensure that children receive appropriate care by setting out what information on screening tests, immunisations and developmental milestones should be securely shared for their treatment, care and wellbeing.

NHS leaders unveil action to boost flu vaccination and manage winter pressures

NHS England, Public Health England, the Department of Health and NHS Improvement have unveiled measures to boost the uptake of flu vaccinations along with package of new contingency actions to respond to pressures on frontline services this winter. 

Intensified preparations include:

• Providing free flu vaccines for hundreds of thousands of care home staff at a cost of up to £10m as well as increasing the number of jabs for young children in schools and vulnerable people
• Directing NHS trusts to ensure they make vaccines readily available to staff and record why those who choose to opt out of the programme do so
• Writing to doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers reminding them of their professional duty to protect patients by being vaccinated
• Setting up a new National Emergency Pressure Panel to provide independent clinical advice on system risk and an appropriate regional and national response
• The biggest expansion in training for A&E consultants ever with hundreds more doctors over the next four years and other healthcare staff

New hexavalent vaccine including Hepatitis B for primary immunisations

From 1 October 2017, all babies born on or after 1 August 2017 will become eligible for a hexavalent vaccine which includes Hepatitis B (HepB) for their primary immunisations.

This vaccine, called Infanrix hexa, will replace those used before. Infanrix hexa is a combination vaccine used to protect against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, HepB, polio and disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b. 

Guidance for health professionals and suppliers, regarding implementation of the vaccine is available.

Latest guidance for the 2017/18 flu season

Immform, the influenza vaccine uptake monitoring programme from Public Health England, has released new guidance on how to report the number of flu vaccinations given to frontline healthcare workers.

The uptake data given by trusts will be used to determine whether a trust is eligible for the flu component of the health and wellbeing CQUIN indicator.

The latest guidance provides more information on these topics as well as which staff groups should be included in the data. 

Nasal spray effective at protecting vaccinated children from flu

Data published by Public Health England (PHE) has shown that the flu vaccine nasal spray reduced the risk of vaccinated children getting flu by 65.8% in the 2016 to 2017 season in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Hexavalent 6-in-1 vaccine to be made available to newborn babies

All babies born on or after 1 August 2017 will be offered protection against hepatitis B as part of our universal childhood immunisation programme, Public Health England has announced. This is in addition to continued protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Hib.

Staff health and wellbeing CQUIN 2017-19 guidance

NHS England has published the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) scheme for the staff health and wellbeing section  next two financial years.

For the 2018/19 season these are:

• 50 per cent uptake or less = no payment
• 50 to 60 per cent uptake = 25 per cent payment
• 60 to 65 per cent uptake = 50 per cent payment
• 65 to 75 per cent uptake = 75 per cent payment
• 75 per cent uptake or above = 100 per cent payment

'Painless' flu vaccine skin patch shows promise

"A 'painless' sticking plaster flu jab that delivers vaccine into the skin has passed important safety tests in the first trial in people," BBC News reports. Results of a small phase 1 trial were encouraging, with no serious side effects reported.

The patch, around the size of a standard plaster, contains 100 "microneedles" – tiny needles containing the vaccine, which then dissolve after delivering a dose.

The trial including 100 people in the US and aimed to see whether the patch was safe and tolerable and may be able to deliver flu vaccine as effectively as an injection.

People who had the patch found it less painful, but were more likely to get redness and itching where the patch had been applied.

There were signs that the patch was just as effective as standard injection in terms of antibody response, but larger studies will be needed to confirm this.

2018/19 flu CQUIN guidance

As part of the new CQUIN for 2017/18 and 2018/19 there will be a continued focus on flu vaccination targets for frontline healthcare workers that will be matched with progressive payments.

The flu uptake rate is one of three indicators within the improving staff health and wellbeing section, which is assigned 0.25 per cent of the total provider budget. The flu uptake indicator has a weighting of 33.3 per cent of 0.25 per cent (0.0833 per cent) of the total provider budget.

National flu immunisation programme plan

National flu immunisation programme for 2017 to 2018.

Intervax BCG vaccine certificates / MenB risk groups PGD / MenACWY risk groups PGD

New guidance from Publish Health England:

• EU batch release certificates, certificates of analysis and material data safety sheet for InterVax BCG vaccine and diluent.
• Patient group direction (PGD) template to support the provision of MenB vaccine to individuals with underlying medical conditions.
Patient group direction (PGD) template to support the provision of MenACWY vaccine to individuals with underlying medical conditions.

Rotavirus vaccine estimated to have saved the NHS £12.5 million a year

The introduction of the rotavirus vaccine in July 2013 has reduced rates of infectious diarrhoea (acute gastroenteritis) in children up to five years by 15%, with a 41% reduction during February to April, when rotavirus incidence is traditionally high.

From the NIHR Disemination Centre

Breastfeeding reduces crying during baby immunisation

Babies who were breastfed before and during routine childhood immunisations cried on average for 38 seconds less and had lower pain scores compared to babies not breastfed.

From the NIHR Dissemination Centre

Intervax BCG vaccine: training material for healthcare professionals

Training material from Public Health England for healthcare professionals on the use of the unlicensed Intervax BCG vaccine has been updated.

Schedules for Pneumococcal Vaccination of Preterm Infants: An RCT

Pediatrics (PEDIATRICS), Sep2016; 138(3): 1-11. (11p)

Premature infants have a higher risk of invasive pneumococcal disease and are more likely to have lower vaccine responses compared with term infants. Increasingly, immunization schedules are including a reduced, 2-dose, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine priming schedule. Our goal was to assess the immunogenicity of 3 commonly used 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) priming schedules in premature infants and their response to a 12-month booster dose.

UHCW Research: P. Satodia

An Intranasal Proteosome-Adjuvanted Trivalent Influenza Vaccine Is Safe, Immunogenic & Efficacious in the Human Viral Influenza Challenge Model. Serum IgG & Mucosal IgA Are Important Correlates of Protection against Illness Associated with Infection

PLoS ONE 11(12): e0163089. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0163089

A Proteosome-adjuvanted trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (P-TIV) administered intra-nasally was shown to be safe, well tolerated and immunogenic in both systemic and mucosal compartments, and effective at preventing illness associated with evidence of influenza infection.

UHCW Research: Colin Gelder