Vaccine Ingredients Research Articles

Parents’ Knowledge regarding the Significance of Immunization for Children: A Systematic Review

Background: Parents often lack specific knowledge about vaccines schedules, lesser-known diseases, and vaccines safety. Enhancing parents’ knowledge about immunization is essential for informed decision-making and promoting vaccine acceptance. Objective: This systematic review aimed to identify the parents’ knowledge about immunization, including their understanding of immunization concepts, knowledge gaps, and misconceptions. The review explored the factors influencing parents’ knowledge, such as socio-demographic factors, cultural and religious beliefs, sources of information, healthcare provider communication, and vaccine hesitancy. Methods: A literature search was conducted by viewing relevant studies via computerized searching through PubMed, Scopus, and Embrace. Results: The number of reviewed studies was 137, all in English and none in Arabic. Only 47 of them were selected based on inclusion criteria. Misconceptions, such as concerns about vaccine ingredients or false associations with adverse events, contribute to vaccine hesitancy. Socio-demographic factors influence parents’ knowledge, including age, education, and income. Cultural and religious beliefs shape their understanding, and sources of information, such as healthcare providers and media, play a significant role. Conclusion: Addressing knowledge gaps and misconceptions requires strengthening healthcare provider communication, targeted educational interventions, regulation of online information, collaboration with community stakeholders, and longitudinal research.

Attitudes toward COVID-19 and Other Vaccines: Comparing Parents to Other Adults, September 2022.

Few analyses of COVID-19 vaccine attitudes also cover routine vaccines or focus on parents. In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed US adults in September 2022, immediately following the authorization of updated bivalent COVID-19 boosters for adults but before their authorization for children. The vaccine attitudes of parents were compared to other adults. Fewer parents were up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccines than other adults (54% vs. 67%), even after adjusting for age, education, and race/ethnicity (Adjusted Odds Ratio: 0.58; 95% Confidence Interval: 0.45-0.76). More parents had concerns about COVID-19 vaccines' safety in children (67% vs. 58%; aOR: 1.59; 95%CI: 1.23-2.06) and vaccine ingredients (52% vs. 45%; aOR: 1.41; 95%CI: 1.09-1.81), and more parents perceived COVID-19 in children to be no worse than a cold or the flu (51% vs. 38%; aOR: 1.56; 95%CI: 1.22-2.01). Fewer parents supported COVID-19 vaccine school requirements (52% vs. 57%; aOR: 0.75; 95%CI: 0.58-0.97) and perceived high vaccine coverage among their friends (51% vs. 61%; aOR: 0.60; 95%CI: 0.46-0.78). However, three-quarters of parents intended their child to receive all routinely recommended vaccines, whereas only half of adults intended to receive all routinely recommended vaccines themselves. To improve parental informed vaccine decision-making, public health must ensure pediatric providers have updated resources to support their discussions of vaccine risks and benefits with their patients' parents.

Immune response after vaccination using inactivated vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019.

Immune response after vaccination using inactivated vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019.

Immune-mediated liver injury following COVID-19 vaccination.

Liver injury secondary to vaccination is a rare adverse event that has recently come under attention thanks to the continuous pharmacovigilance following the widespread implementation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination protocols. All three most widely distributed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccine formulations, e.g., BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, and ChAdOx1-S, can induce liver injury that may involve immune-mediated pathways and result in autoimmune hepatitis-like presentation that may require therapeutic intervention in the form of corticosteroid administration. Various mechanisms have been proposed in an attempt to highlight immune checkpoint inhibition and thus establish causality with vaccination. The autoimmune features of such a reaction also prompt an in-depth investigation of the newly employed vaccine technologies. Novel vaccine delivery platforms, e.g., mRNA-containing lipid nanoparticles and adenoviral vectors, contribute to the inflammatory background that leads to an exaggerated immune response, while patterns of molecular mimicry between the spike (S) protein and prominent liver antigens may account for the autoimmune presentation. Immune mediators triggered by vaccination or vaccine ingredients per se, including autoreactive antibodies, cytokines, and cytotoxic T-cell populations, may inflict hepatocellular damage through well-established pathways. We aim to review available data associated with immune-mediated liver injury associated with COVID-19 vaccination and elucidate potential mechanisms underlying its pathogenesis.

The Role of the Vaccine Ingredients Used in the Manufacture of Vaccine

Vaccine development platform technologies that can produce a wide range of vaccines are emerging. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a global pandemic which has induced unprecedented ramifications, severely affecting our society due to the long incubation time, unpredictably high prevalence and lack of effective vaccines. Safe and effective vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID)-19, pharmaceutical formulation science plays a critical role throughout the development, manufacturing, distribution, and vaccination phases DNA technology can simplify the complexity of manufacturing and facilitate consistent production of large quantities of antigen. Messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccines have shown promise against infectious diseases and several types of cancer in the last two decades.

Adjuvant physiochemistry and advanced nanotechnology for vaccine development.

Vaccines comprising innovative adjuvants are rapidly reaching advanced translational stages, such as the authorized nanotechnology adjuvants in mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 worldwide, offering new strategies to effectively combat diseases threatening human health. Adjuvants are vital ingredients in vaccines, which can augment the degree, extensiveness, and longevity of antigen specific immune response. The advances in the modulation of physicochemical properties of nanoplatforms elevate the capability of adjuvants in initiating the innate immune system and adaptive immunity, offering immense potential for developing vaccines against hard-to-target infectious diseases and cancer. In this review, we provide an essential introduction of the basic principles of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccination, key roles of adjuvants in augmenting and shaping immunity to achieve desired outcomes and effectiveness, and the physiochemical properties and action mechanisms of clinically approved adjuvants for humans. We particularly focus on the preclinical and clinical progress of highly immunogenic emerging nanotechnology adjuvants formulated in vaccines for cancer treatment or infectious disease prevention. We deliberate on how the immune system can sense and respond to the physicochemical cues (e.g., chirality, deformability, solubility, topology, and chemical structures) of nanotechnology adjuvants incorporated in the vaccines. Finally, we propose possible strategies to accelerate the clinical implementation of nanotechnology adjuvanted vaccines, such as in-depth elucidation of nano-immuno interactions, antigen identification and optimization by the deployment of high-dimensional multiomics analysis approaches, encouraging close collaborations among scientists from different scientific disciplines and aggressive exploration of novel nanotechnologies.

Lipid-based colloidal nanoparticles for applications in targeted vaccine delivery.

Bioactive molecules and their effects have been influenced by their solubility and administration route. In many therapeutic reagents, the performance of therapeutics is dependent on physiological barriers in the human body and delivery efficacy. Therefore, an effective and stable therapeutic delivery promotes pharmaceutical advancement and suitable biological usage of drugs. In the biological and pharmacological industries, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have emerged as a potential carrier to deliver therapeutics. Since studies reported doxorubicin-loaded liposomes (Doxil®), LNPs have been applied to numerous clinical trials. Lipid-based nanoparticles, including liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs), and nanostructured lipid nanoparticles, have also been developed to deliver active ingredients in vaccines. In this review, we present the type of LNPs used to develop vaccines with attractive advantages. We then discuss messenger RNA (mRNA) delivery for the clinical application of mRNA therapeutic-loaded LNPs and recent research trend of LNP-based vaccine development.

Merck Animal Health Uses Operations Research Methods to Transform Biomanufacturing Productivity for Lifesaving Medicines

Merck Animal Health offers veterinarians, farmers, pet owners and governments one of the widest ranges of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions. After four years of collaboration where vision met opportunity, a portfolio of optimization and decision support applications were implemented that substantially improved biomanufacturing effectiveness. Biomanufacturing uses living organisms (i.e., viruses and bacteria) to grow active ingredients in vaccines and therapeutics. This high-tech manufacturing process generates challenges not found in many other industries. Additionally, the high cost of equipment and labor-intensive nature of operations precluded the ability to just add capacity. Operations research was critical to meet these challenges. The implementation of the developed models had a significant impact by generating $200 million of additional revenue without the need for additional raw materials, energy resources, or new equipment. The work has been vital to the increased biomanufacturing efficiency for the company.

Materials engineering strategies for cancer vaccine adjuvant development.

Cancer vaccines have emerged as a powerful new tool for cancer immunotherapy. Adjuvants are vaccine ingredients that enhance the strength, velocity, and duration of the immune response. The success of adjuvants in achieving stable, safe, and immunogenic cancer vaccines has generated enthusiasm for adjuvant development. Specifically, advances in materials science are providing insights into the rational design of vaccine adjuvants for topical cancer immunotherapy. Here, we outline the current state of materials engineering strategies, including those based on molecular adjuvants, polymers/lipids, inorganic nanoparticles, and bio-derived materials, for adjuvant development. We also elaborate on how these engineering strategies and the physicochemical features of the materials involved influence the effects of adjuvants.

Status of COVID-19 Infection and Vaccination in People Aged 18 Years and over in a Town: A Cross-Sectional Study in Turkey

Objective. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cases of COVID-19 infection in people >18 years old and to investigate attitudes against vaccination and vaccine hesitancy and the factors affecting them. Methods. The data collection form used in the study was prepared by the researchers by screening the relevant literature. People over the age of 18 who agreed to participate in the study were invited to the family health center, and a questionnaire was applied by face-to-face interview method. The application time of a survey was 5-10 minutes. A total of 229 people were reached. Percentage of reaching was 95,4%. Results. The mean age of the participants was 44 , 13 ± 14 , 18 years. 31,9% of the participants in the study had COVID-19 infections. 69,9% of those who had COVID-19 infection caught the disease in the last year, and 93,2% were followed at home. Among the people with whom the participants lived, 21,6% of those who had COVID-19 infection were hospitalized and 5,7% died. Of the participants who expressed their opinion, 32,1% think that COVID-19 vaccines have serious side effects. Postvaccine side effects developed in 32,9% of the participants who had the COVID-19 vaccine, and 11,0% had a postvaccine infection. Conclusion. The results of our study revealed that the COVID-19 vaccine was highly accepted among the adult population in Turkey during the pandemic period. However, through this study, we found concerns about the side effects of the vaccine, the lack of confidence in the vaccine ingredient, and the effectiveness of the vaccine.

Ethical Considerations Surrounding Employment Mandated Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination and Allergy Skin Testing for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccine.

Ethical Considerations Surrounding Employment Mandated Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination and Allergy Skin Testing for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccine.

Efficacy of hydrogen peroxide wipes for decontamination of AZD1222 adenovirus COVID-19 vaccine strain on pharmaceutical industry materials.

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of accelerated hydrogen peroxide® wipes (HPW) for decontamination of the chimpanzee adenovirus AZD1222 vaccine strain used in the production of recombinant COVID‐19 vaccine in a pharmaceutical industry. Two matrices were tested on stainless‐steel (SS) and low‐density‐polyethylene (LDP) surfaces: formulated recombinant COVID‐19 vaccine (FCV) and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). The samples were spiked, dried and the initial inoculum, possible residue effect (RE) and titre reduction after disinfection with HPW were determined. No RE was observed. The disinfection procedure with HPW resulted in complete decontamination the of AZD1222 adenovirus strain in FCV (≥7·46 and ≥7·49 log10 infectious unit [IFU] ml−1 for SS and LDP carriers respectively) and API (≥8·79 and ≥8·78 log10 IFU ml−1 for SS and LDP carriers respectively). In conclusion, virucidal activity of HPW was satisfactory against the AZD1222 adenovirus strain and can be a good option for disinfection processes of SS and LPD surfaces in pharmaceutical industry facilities during recombinant COVID‐19 vaccine production. This procedure is simple and can be also applied on safety unit cabins and sampling bags made of LDP as well.

Methods of Current Practice: Qualitative Analysis of Intervention Strategies Utilized by Vaccine Waiver Educators in Michigan.

By enacting administrative rule 325.176 (12), Michigan added a vaccine education component as a precondition to granting vaccine waivers to vaccine-hesitant parents wishing to file a nonmedical vaccine exemption for their school-aged child. The purpose of the study was to identify best practices for reaching vaccine-hesitant parents during face-to-face vaccine education sessions conducted by vaccine waiver educators in Michigan. This study utilized qualitative descriptive content analysis of semi-structured phone interviews with vaccine waiver educators from local health departments (LHDs) in Michigan. Participants were vaccine waiver educators who were employed by a local health department in Michigan and had conducted at least 30 vaccine waiver education sessions. Strategies, resources, and techniques identified by educators as beneficial included using and providing information from a variety of sources, compiling their own educational materials, creating a positive experience, holding personalized sessions, and streamlining exemption and vaccination sessions. However, unexpected themes that emerged from the interviews revealed that vaccine waiver educators need additional training in discussing vaccine ingredients with parents, handling religious vaccine exemption requests, and assessing the role of schools. Implementing successful vaccine education interventions targeting vaccine-hesitancy is crucial to public health. Charging LHDs with overseeing vaccine education via a face-to-face discussion is a novel intervention strategy, the effective implementation of which may inform vaccine education intervention nationwide and may even be translated into international contexts and prove useful to current COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

Croda lands US funding for Pennsylvania lipids plant

Two years after acquiring Alabama-based Avanti Polar Lipids, Croda says it plans to build a second US lipid facility at a site it purchased in Lamar, Pennsylvania, a year ago. Croda, which also manufactures lipids in Leek, England, will receive $75 million in funding from the US Department of Defense and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority as part of the federal government’s effort to bolster domestic supply of critical drug and vaccine ingredients. The British firm says it will spend up to $58 million, bringing its total investment in the plant to $133 million. Demand for lipids has soared in recent years with the development of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. Naked mRNA quickly degrades in the body. To get the genetic material to its target cells, vaccine developers combine it with a mixture of several sophisticated lipids to form lipid nanoparticles . Croda supplies Pfizer with lipids for

Responding to Parents’ Questions Regarding Polysorbate 80, Aluminum, and Thimerosal in Vaccines

Vaccines save millions of lives worldwide every year. Nevertheless, misinformation regarding vaccine ingredients circulates on various media platforms and may negatively influence parental decisions regarding childhood vaccinations. Three vaccine ingredients commonly associated with parental vaccine concerns include polysorbate 80, aluminum, and thimerosal. This article aims to discuss the safety of polysorbate 80, aluminum, and thimerosal in vaccines and provide accurate educational information to assist nurse practitioners in helping parents make well-informed decisions regarding childhood vaccinations.

Association of caregiver attitudes with adolescent HPV vaccination in 13 southern US states

Background and objectivesHPV vaccination coverage is lower than that of other adolescent vaccines in the southern US. This study sought to characterize caregiver attitudes associated with adolescent HPV vaccination in the southern US and to inform interventions to promote HPV vaccination. MethodsFrom December 2019 – January 2020, caregivers of adolescents (ages 9–17 years) living in thirteen southern US states were recruited from a nationally-representative online survey panel. Caregivers (N = 1,105) completed a cross-sectional survey that assessed general adolescent vaccine attitudes as well as those associated with the HPV vaccine and HPV vaccination decision-making. The primary study outcome was adolescents’ receipt of at least one dose of the HPV vaccine. ResultsCaregivers with vaccinated adolescents had greater positive attitudes towards adolescent vaccines compared to caregivers of unvaccinated adolescents. Top three areas of concern among caregivers were related to vaccine ingredients, perceptions that adolescents receive too many vaccines, and worry about vaccine side effects. In multivariable regression models, positive attitudes towards the HPV vaccine and HPV vaccination decision-making strongly associated with HPV vaccination in addition to general adolescent vaccination attitudes. Caregivers’ reported discomfort with discussing the topic of sex was predictive of lower vaccination uptake for older adolescents. ConclusionsPublic health messaging in the southern US should be tailored to reduce concerns about vaccine safety and to communicate the importance of timely HPV vaccination. Campaigns that deliver information specific to the HPV vaccine and to support vaccination decision-making may be more effective than those delivering only general adolescent vaccination information at promoting on-time HPV vaccination.

Anaphylaxis to additives in vaccines.

Anaphylaxis in connection with the administration of vaccines occurs only very rarely. Triggers of immunoglobulin IgE-mediated and non-IgE-mediated anaphylaxis—in addition to the active ingredient itself—may be excipients contained in the vaccine due to their special properties. Some of the excipients in medicinal products are the same compounds used as additives in food. Furthermore, residues from the manufacturing process (e.g., chicken egg white, casein, antibiotics, formaldehyde) or contaminants (e.g., from the primary packaging material) may be potential triggers of anaphylaxis in vaccines. This review article provides an overview of ingredients in vaccines that pose an allergenic risk potential. The components of COVID-19 vaccines approved and marketed in Germany are discussed with regard to their potential for triggering anaphylaxis and possible pathophysiological mechanisms involved.

Multi Epitopes Potential on Surface SARS-CoV-2 Protein as a Covid-19 Vaccine Candidate

Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiology of an outbreak Covid-19. SARS-CoV-2 has a structural part consisting of spike glycoprotein, nucleoprotein N, membrane M and envelopes small membrane pentamer E. Immunoinformatic approach epitope analysis is developed to identify both weak and robust epitopes. Our study aims to identify several epitopes present in the spike glycoprotein, envelope, and membrane protein from the SARCoV-2 surface, with the help of insilico approach that highly potential as vaccine candidates. Analysis of antigeninicity was performed with the Kolaskar and Tongaonkar Antigenicity software. Epitope Mapping was analyzed using Linear Epitope Prediction Bepired. The structure of proteins with epitope regions was visualized by software Pyrex and PyMOL. Conserve analysis was performed using bio edit software. HLA mimicry was analyzed through HLAPred software. Molecular docking between the epitope with HLA I and HLA II was validated by Chimera and PyMOL software. The toxicity test for candidate vaccine peptides was carried out using ToxinPred software. Our study found seven potential epitope candidates as vaccine candidates. The seven epitopes were derived from spike proteins (5 epitopes), envelope proteins (1 epitope), and membrane proteins (1 epitope). All epitope codes are conserved and are not the same as HLA in Humans. The docking test results show a value with low affinity so that a strong bond can provide a high immune response. Toxicity tests show that all epitopes are non-toxic and safe to use as vaccine ingredients. Seven peptides from the spike, envelope, membrane protein that showed potential as vaccine candidates against Covid-19.

Evaluation of hydrogen peroxide efficacy against AZD1222 chimpanzee adenovirus strain in the recombinant COVID-19 vaccine for application in cleaning validation in a pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) to inactivate the chimpanzee adenovirus AZD1222 vaccine strain used in the production of recombinant COVID-19 vaccine for application in cleaning validation in pharmaceutical industries production areas. Two matrixes were tested: formulated recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (FCV) and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). The samples were dried on stainless steel and exposed to HPV in an isolator. One biological indicator with population >106 Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores was used to validate the HPV decontamination cycle as standard. HPV exposure resulted in complete virus inactivation in FVC (≥5·03 log10 ) and API (≥6·40 log10 ), showing HPV efficacy for reducing chimpanzee adenovirus AZD1222 vaccine strain. However, the optimum concentration and contact time will vary depending on the type of application. Future decontamination studies scaling up the process to the recombinant COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing areas are necessary to evaluate if the HPV will have the same or better virucidal effectivity in each specific production area. In conclusion, HPV showed efficacy for reducing AZD1222 chimpanzee adenovirus strain and can be a good choice for pharmaceutical industries facilities disinfection during recombinant COVID-19 vaccine production.

Symmetric periorbital edema after mRNA COVID-19 vaccine

A 42-year-old Caucasian female patient presented with symmetric, asymptomatic, periorbital angioedema (Fig. 1) that appeared 24 hours after the second dose of the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. She was injected with the hyaluronic acid dermal filler Juvéderm Volite in the glabella and periorbital area three months earlier and underwent a botulinum toxin session in the forehead, glabella, and crow’s feet with Vistabel six months earlier. No present or previous history of allergy or concomitant diseases was reported. Cetirizine dihydrochloride 3 × 10 mg and cold compresses resulted in the complete resolution of the symptoms within three days. Reactions to the Moderna vaccine possibly related to the dermal filler placement are rare and have an unknown pathogenesis. Three out of 15,184 patients developed facial or lip swelling after mRNA vaccine [1]. These reactions may be immunologically triggered by viral or bacterial illness and vaccinations, including allergies to vaccine ingredients such as polyethylene glycol.