Todd Neale
MedPage Today
05/30/2010
Of the two vaccines used in the U.K. to protect against pandemic H1N1 influenza, the adjuvanted split-virus vaccine offered better protection for children than the non-adjuvanted whole-virus vaccine, but caused more side effects, a phase II study showed.
After two doses, there were higher seroconversion rates with the adjuvanted vaccine both in children younger than 3 (98.2% versus 80.1%, P<0.001) and in older children (99.1% versus 95.9%, P=0.03), Claire Waddington, a clinical research fellow at the Oxford Vaccine Group in England, and colleagues reported online in BMJ.
Although the researchers said both vaccines were well tolerated, there were higher rates of local and systemic reactions with the adjuvanted vaccine.
Waddington and her colleagues concluded, "The favorable immunogenicity of the adjuvanted split-virion vaccine in the youngest children in our study suggests that novel adjuvants could be used to improve the immunogenicity of seasonal influenza vaccines in this population."
Read the rest of the article.