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CSU 58/2009: PROTECTING CHILDREN WITH HIV AGAINST PNEUMOCOCCAL DISEASE
Writing in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Meehan and colleagues look at
protection against pneumoccal disease in HIV seropositive children.
The authors conclude 'The call is increasing to make the worldwide
introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines an urgent public health
priority.6, 16 We propose urgent implementation for children with HIV.
Paediatric HAART can now be purchased through special mechanisms for as
little as US$200 per year, the expected cost to recipient countries of
Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization funded PCV-7 might be in the
order of $1 per three dose course. Global vaccination of children against
pneumococcal disease is important, but will take time; we argue that
vaccinating children that are HIV-positive is more feasible and worth
implementing now.'
Remarkably, most of the children now receiving 7 valent pneumococcal
vaccine, Prevnar, are those at low mortality risk in industrialized
countries; until 2010, few children in developing countries will benefit
from pneumococcal vaccine. The roll-in of a second pneumoccal vaccine will
provide somewhat wider availability of pneumoccal vaccine, but several of
the African countries with heavy HIV burdens are GAVI ineligible. So the
vaccine is likely to remain unavailable in several countries with high HIV
seroprevalence.
Good reading.
Bob Davis