Concomitant Use of Hepatitis A Vaccine With PVC-7, MMRV Safe, Effective in Infants

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Concomitant Use of Hepatitis A Vaccine With PVC-7, MMRV Safe, Effective in Infants

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- June 12, 2011 -- The hepatitis A vaccine (Vaqta) can be administered to healthy children aged 1 to 2 years together with the measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (MMRV) vaccine, and the 7-valent pneumococcal vaccine (PVC-7), without decreasing immunogenicity or increasing adverse events.

Findings were presented here June 9 at the 29th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) by J. Yetman, MD, University of Texas, Houston, Texas.

For the study, children aged 12 to 23 months were randomised to receive the hepatitis A vaccine along with the MMRV and PVC-7 vaccines on day 1, followed by a second dose of the hepatitis A vaccine and the PVC-7 vaccine at week 24 (group 1); or to receive the MMRV and PCV-7 vaccines on day 1 followed by the hepatitis A vaccine at weeks 6 and 30, and a second dose of the MMRV vaccine at week 34 (group 2).

Results showed that concomitant vaccine administration was highly immunogenic. The hepatitis A seropositivity rate (SPR) was 100% for group 1 and 99.4% for group 2 following both doses.

The varicella SPR was 93.3% for group 1 and 98.3% for group 2.

The observed response to Streptococcus pneumoniae (7 serotypes) was between 98.0% to 99.2% in group 1 and between 96.0% to 99.6% in group 2.

The geometric mean titres (GMT) fold-difference ranged from 0.9 to 1.1 in both treatment arms.

Following administration of the hepatitis A vaccine in group 2, eleven serious adverse events occurred, of which 3 were considered possibly vaccine related -- dehydration and gastroenteritis (same patient) on day 52, gastroenteritis on day 52, and febrile seizure on day 9. No deaths occurred.

The immune response to the hepatitis A vaccine when administered with the PCV-7 vaccine and the MMRV vaccine is similar to that elicited by nonconcomitant administration with a safety profile that is also similar, with an acceptable safety profile, the authors concluded.

Funding for this study was provided by Merck & Co.

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