Abstract
Despite the significant role played by vaccines in global health, concerns over vaccine safety have increased tremendously over the years. There have been occasions where vaccines have caused rare, adverse reactions some of which have led to hospitalizations and even death. It is therefore important to establish the safety profile of routinely used vaccines in order to allay fears pertaining to their use. This review was aimed at pooling together the safety data of selected vaccines used for routine immunization in Africa, a region of the world with paucity of vaccine safety data. Adverse Events Following Immunization safety data was searched for rotavirus, yellow fever, measles, rubella, tuberculosis (Bacillus Calmette Guerin-BCG), pneumococcal, Haemophilus Influenza type b, polio, meningococcal and the influenza A (H1N1) vaccines in PUBMED, Google Scholar, Clinical trials.gov and Cochrane controlled register of trials databases. A total of twenty-four serious AEFIs and twenty-three minor AEFIs were identified from the review. The strength of association between AEFIs and vaccine was high for tuberculosis vaccine and moderate for all other vaccines. Even though AEFIs (including mild and severe) were identified in the review, all the vaccines studied were generally well tolerated.
Highlights
Vaccines are amongst the top life-saving interventions developed in the history of mankind preventing millions of diseases and deaths annually[1]
One way of improving vaccine safety is the identification and prompt reporting of the adverse events associated with their use to regulatory bodies as the pattern of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) of a particular vaccine product helps to trace the possible cause of the AEFI
Further literature search showed that the influenza A (H1N1) vaccine has been used in many countries in Africa even though not published on the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website and was added to the nine
Summary
Vaccines are amongst the top life-saving interventions developed in the history of mankind preventing millions of diseases and deaths annually[1]. Despite the significant role vaccines play in global health, concerns over their safety have increased tremendously over the years[5] It is important for the general population to be assured that vaccines are less likely to cause African. African Health Sciences Vol 20 Issue 1, March, 2020 gions like Africa, the use of vaccines will increase proportionally and the need to intensify measures to ensure their safety[10]. This calls for commitment towards ensuring good vaccine pharmacovigilance practices by all stakeholders including but not limited to medicine regulators, vaccine marketing authorization holders, healthcare professionals, policy makers, public health practitioners and academic researchers.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
