Varicella outbreak at nursery school under routine immunization in Japan in 2017 and 2018 and vaccine effectiveness.

Nursery school Routine immunization Severity Two-dose vaccination Vaccine effectiveness Varicella

Journal

Vaccine
ISSN: 1873-2518
Titre abrégé: Vaccine
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 8406899

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
12 Mar 2024
Historique:
received: 26 11 2023
revised: 19 02 2024
accepted: 24 02 2024
medline: 14 3 2024
pubmed: 14 3 2024
entrez: 13 3 2024
Statut: aheadofprint

Résumé

In Japan, routine administration to one-year-old children of two-dose immunization for varicella was introduced in October 2014. Object The object of this study was to report outbreaks of varicella under routine immunization at a nursery school and in its surrounding area using data of surrounding areas from the (Nursery) School Absenteeism Surveillance System. Then, we measured the effectiveness of routine two-dose immunization for varicella to onset. We tentatively assessed its severity in a nursery school. The study period extended from April 2017 through March 2018. The study area comprised Nursery school B and other nursery schools, and elementary and junior high schools in City A. Subjects in Nursery school B were 120 children. We analyzed vaccine effectiveness (VE) as an observational study and assessed severity using Fisher's exact test. We also assessed VE for severity using linear regression. Severity was defined as the length of nursery school absence attributable to varicella infection. During the one month preceding a period of two weeks before the initial case at Nursery school B, there were 16 cases of varicella infection in nursery schools, 45 cases in elementary schools, and one case in junior high schools in City A. For children who had received one vaccine dose or more, VE was 48.1% for all ages and 49.2% among children three years old and older. No significant VE against infection was found. Vaccination using one dose or more can reduce severity significantly. Because many nursery school children who had received two doses of vaccine were infected, VE was estimated as low in the nursery school and not significant. Although VE for severity with more than one dose was confirmed, a second dose might not reduce severity compared to one dose.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
In Japan, routine administration to one-year-old children of two-dose immunization for varicella was introduced in October 2014. Object The object of this study was to report outbreaks of varicella under routine immunization at a nursery school and in its surrounding area using data of surrounding areas from the (Nursery) School Absenteeism Surveillance System. Then, we measured the effectiveness of routine two-dose immunization for varicella to onset. We tentatively assessed its severity in a nursery school.
METHOD METHODS
The study period extended from April 2017 through March 2018. The study area comprised Nursery school B and other nursery schools, and elementary and junior high schools in City A. Subjects in Nursery school B were 120 children. We analyzed vaccine effectiveness (VE) as an observational study and assessed severity using Fisher's exact test. We also assessed VE for severity using linear regression. Severity was defined as the length of nursery school absence attributable to varicella infection.
RESULTS RESULTS
During the one month preceding a period of two weeks before the initial case at Nursery school B, there were 16 cases of varicella infection in nursery schools, 45 cases in elementary schools, and one case in junior high schools in City A. For children who had received one vaccine dose or more, VE was 48.1% for all ages and 49.2% among children three years old and older. No significant VE against infection was found. Vaccination using one dose or more can reduce severity significantly.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION CONCLUSIONS
Because many nursery school children who had received two doses of vaccine were infected, VE was estimated as low in the nursery school and not significant. Although VE for severity with more than one dose was confirmed, a second dose might not reduce severity compared to one dose.

Identifiants

pubmed: 38480103
pii: S0264-410X(24)00250-0
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.02.075
pii:
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Auteurs

Tomoko Sakaue (T)

Kusabue Nursery School, Tokyo, Japan.

Tamie Sugawara (T)

National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: tammy@nih.go.jp.

Kyoko Mukasa (K)

Department of Social Welfare, Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, Showa Women's University, Tokyo, Japan.

Michiko Nohara (M)

Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.

Classifications MeSH