This heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate appears to be highly effective in preventing invasive disease in young children and to have a significant impact on otitis media.

The heptavalent pneumococcal polysaccharide-CRM197 conjugate vaccine is safe and efficacious in the prevention of acute otitis media caused by the serotypes included in the vaccine.

A correlate of protection (CoP) is urgently needed to expedite development of additional COVID-19 vaccines to meet unprecedented global demand. To assess whether antibody titers may reasonably predict efficacy and serve as the basis of a CoP, we evaluated the relationship between efficacy and in vitro neutralizing and binding antibodies of 7 vaccines for which sufficient data have been generated. Once calibrated to titers of human convalescent sera reported in each study, a robust correlation was seen between neutralizing titer and efficacy (ρ = 0.79) and binding antibody titer and efficacy (ρ = 0.93), despite geographically diverse study populations subject to different forces of infection and circulating variants, and use of different endpoints, assays, convalescent sera panels and manufacturing platforms. Together with evidence from natural history studies and animal models, these results support the use of post-immunization antibody titers as the basis for establishing a correlate of protection for COVID-19 vaccines.

We analyzed >70 recent data sets to compare the serogroups causing invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) with those represented in conjugate vaccine formulations. Five to 8 and 10-11 serogroups comprise at least 75% of pneumococcal isolates from young children and older children/adults, respectively, in each geographic region. Serogroups in the 7-valent formulation (4, 6, 9, 14, 18, 19, and 23) cause 70%-88% of IPD in young children in the United States and Canada, Oceania, Africa, and Europe, and <65% in Latin America and Asia. Serogroups in the 9-valent formulation (7-valent+1, 5) cause 80%-90% of IPD in each region except Asia (66%). Serogroup 1 accounts for >6% of IPD in each region, including Europe, except the United States and Canada and Oceania. In contrast, several serogroups not found in 7-, 9-, and 11-valent conjugate formulations are significant causes of disease in older children/adults. Nevertheless, each conjugate formulation could prevent a substantial IPD burden in each region and age group.

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We measured serum concentrations of immunoglobulin classes and IgG subclasses in 53 patients who had completed treatment for Hodgkin's disease and in 10 healthy adults. We wished to determine the relation of these classes and subclasses to the subjects' antibody responses to bacterial polysaccharide and viral protein antigens. Mean levels of the IgG-2 subclass were significantly lower in patients treated with both radiation and chemotherapy than in controls (P less than 0.05). The level of IgG-2 before immunization correlated directly with the mean antibody response both to 11 pneumococcal antigens (r = 0.71, P less than 0.001) and to the Haemophilus influenzae Type b antigen (r = 0.40, P less than 0.01). The correlation between IgG-2 concentration and pneumococcal antibody response was also significant in the 10 healthy adults ( r = 0.70, P less than 0.05). The levels of no immunoglobulin class or subclass correlated significantly with antibody responses to influenza A/Victoria/75 and A/New Jersey/76 hemagglutinins, both of which are protein antigens. The serum concentration of IgG-2 appears to provide a marker for predicting the ability to produce antibodies to polysaccharide, but not viral protein, antigens.