Meningococcal vaccination in pregnancy

Preventing invasive meningococcal disease in early infancy

This review considers the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease in infants, to examine and critique meningococcal disease prevention in this population through vaccination. High rates of meningococcal disease and poor outcomes, particularly for very young infants, highlight the importance of meningococcal vaccination in early infancy. Although effective and safe meningococcal vaccines are available for use from 6 weeks of age, they are not recommended globally. Emerging real-world data from the increased incorporation of these vaccines within immunization programs inform recommendations regarding effectiveness, appropriate vaccination schedule, possible long-term safety effects, and persistence of antibody responses. Importantly, to protect infants from IMD, national vaccination recommendations should be consistent with available data regarding vaccine safety, effectiveness, and disease risk.

Maternal vaccination: A narrative review

Background

Vaccinations in general are considered to be one of the greatest achievements in medicine, saving millions of lives globally.

Aim

This narrative review highlights issues related to vaccination in pregnancy and provides information on those vaccines registered for use in pregnancy.

Method

Published articles on vaccinations in pregnancy are included in this review. The search engines used included PubMed, Medline, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect.

Results

Vaccinations during pregnancy are more likely to be administered in high income countries (HICs) compared to low-income countries (LICs) due to easier access to healthcare services and better communicable disease awareness. Maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality rates associated with infectious diseases are higher in LICs with access to maternal care services, infrastructure and hospital equipment lacking in these settings.

Conclusion

Suitable vaccinations are recommended for use in pregnancy to prevent harm to women, their foetuses and newborns from some communicable diseases, and they have resulted in declines in maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, this review has shown that vaccination during pregnancy is not only safe for both the woman and her foetus but also effective. Therefore, health professionals and national governments should strongly consider approved vaccinations prior to or during pregnancy.

Contribution

This review provides insight on the necessity of vaccination during pregnancy. In addition, it urges health professionals to inform patients of the importance of regular antenatal visits, and to receive the required vaccinations for a better health outcome.

Vaccination in pregnancy - The when, what and how?

Immunization is a fundamental component of preventive healthcare. This gain special significance in pregnancy. Maternal antigen-specific IgG, is actively transported across the placenta during pregnancy. This significantly, contributes to infant immunity in the first few months of life. Vaccination during pregnancy has the potential to indirectly protect the most vulnerable infants during the first few months of life, when vaccine responses are generally poor and it is difficult to achieve rapid protection through immunization. This is especially relevant when there is prior exposure to infection in woman or vaccine administration. A vaccine given during pregnancy in these women would result in a booster response and a relatively high level of IgG protecting their children in initial few months of life. Passive antibody transfer from mother to fetus can protect fetuses from infection until their own immunization schedule is initiated. Lack of administration of appropriate vaccination to women during pregnancy lead to an increase in maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality from preventable infections like influenza, pertussis. Various preventable infections can lead to intensive care unit admission for mothers, preterm birth, and low birth weight babies. Recent covid pandemic has brought issue of vaccine use in pregnancy at forefront of all expectant mothers. Immunization with inactivated virus, bacterial vaccine and toxoids showed no evidence of adverse fetal effects. As a rule, live attenuated vaccines are not recommended in pregnancy. This paper gives snapshot of all vaccines, which can be used in pregnancy along with brief details regards various bacterial and viral infections , their common clinical features and effects on pregnancy outcome as well as fetus. This is will provide a useful guide for healthcare providers.

Maternal vaccines-safety in pregnancy

Vaccination during pregnancy is important for active immunity of the mother against serious infectious diseases, and also for passive immunity of the neonate to infectious diseases with high morbidity and mortality. As a rule, live vaccines are contraindicated during pregnancy as they may cause fetal viremia/bacteremia. Inactivated vaccines are generally safe.

Vaccines safe to be administered to all pregnant ladies are tetanus toxoid (TT; tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis (Tdap) and Flu vaccines. During pre-pregnancy counselling, vaccination for MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) should be offered, with an advice to avoid pregnancy for a month. All pregnant mothers should receive TT and Tdap vaccination during the third trimester. Flu vaccine can be given to all mothers at any gestation, and if not offered during pregnancy, it can be given postpartum.

Vaccinations that should be offered to women if at high risk of exposure are for hepatitis A and B, pneumococcal, meningococcal, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis (JE), polio, typhoid, and cholera infections.

Vaccines to be given only for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) are smallpox, rabies, and anthrax. Postpartum women should be offered human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. If not immunized earlier, they should be offered MMR, Tdap, and Flu vaccines. Future vaccines being developed are for malaria, Zika virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), group B streptococcus, CMV, and COVID-19 (SARS-Cov-2).

Adverse events following quadrivalent meningococcal diphtheria toxoid conjugate vaccine (Menactra®) reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), 2005-2016

BACKGROUND

Post marketing safety evaluations of quadrivalent meningococcal diphtheria-toxoid conjugate vaccine (MenACWY-D) have focused on post-vaccination risk of Guillain Barré syndrome (GBS), adverse events (AEs) after maternal vaccination, and comparative studies with the newer quadrivalent meningococcal CRM₁₉₇ conjugate vaccine (MenACWY-CRM). To provide an updated general safety assessment, we reviewed reports of AEs following MenACWY-D submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

METHODS

VAERS is a national spontaneous reporting vaccine safety surveillance system co-administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. We searched the VAERS database for U.S. reports of AEs after administration of MenACWY-D from January 2005 through June 2016. We conducted clinical reviews of serious reports after MenACWY-D administered alone, reports of MenACWY-D use during pregnancy, and reports of selected pre-specified outcomes. We screened for disproportionate reporting of AEs after MenACWY-D using empirical Bayesian data mining.

RESULTS

VAERS received 13,075 U.S. reports after receipt of MenACWY-D; most (86%) described vaccination in adolescents, were classified as non-serious (94%), and described AEs consistent with pre-licensure studies. We did not find any evidence that reported deaths were related to vaccination. In serious reports, GBS and meningococcal infection were the most commonly reported medical conditions. Many reports of MenACWY-D use during pregnancy described inadvertent vaccination; most (61%) did not report any AE.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings from our comprehensive review of reports to VAERS following MenACWY-D are consistent with data from pre-licensure studies and provide further reassurance on the safety of MenACWY-D.