Assessment of varicella vaccine effectiveness in Germany: a time-series approach

Abstract

SUMMARYA multivariate time-series regression model was developed in order to describe the 2005-2008 age-specific time-course of varicella sentinel surveillance data following the introduction of a varicella childhood vaccination programme in Germany. This ecological approach allows the assessment of vaccine effectiveness under field conditions by relating vaccine coverage in cohorts of 24-month-old children to the mean number of cases per reporting unit in the sentinel network. For the 1-2 years age group, which is directly affected by the vaccination programme, a one-dose vaccine effectiveness of 83 . 2% (95 % CI 80 . 2-85 . 7) was estimated which corresponds to previous approaches assessing varicella vaccine effectiveness in the field in the USA.

Assessing varicella vaccine effectiveness and its influencing factors using health insurance claims data, Germany, 2006 to 2015

“…However, after the second dose, protection is much higher in each observed time interval after vaccination, with an overall incremental effectiveness of 68.9%. The result for VE1 is in line with data from a case–control study and a time-series approach in Germany where 86.4% and 83.2% were estimated [21,22]. Our findings are also comparable to the results of a recent German study based on the screening method and to international data from case–control studies where VE1 and VE2 were at 80–87% and 97–98%, respectively [13,14,15,23-26].…”

Complications of Varicella in Unvaccinated Children From Romania, 2002–2013

“…An European Union guidance paper of varicella immunization recommends a vaccination program with a 2-dose strategy at high coverage (>90%) and/or an extensive catch-up campaign in older children during the first year of vaccination to achieve elimination of varicella. 10,[14][15][16] Varicella vaccine is recommended for children older than 11-13 months; as such, it will decrease the number of susceptible persons and consequently, the potential acquisition of infection at very young ages, especially between 0 and 1 year, when the complication rate reaches the highest values. 4,12 Concluding, varicella is not just a mild disease of childhood but can be a potentially severe disease and an important cause of hospitalization, especially in children younger than 14 years.…”

Die Varizellenimpfung in Deutschland

“…Der Zusammenhang von Impfquote und Rück-gang der Erkrankungshäufigkeit bei Kindern im Alter unter 2 Jahren wurde außer-dem mittels eines Zeitreihen-Regressionsmodells mit AGV-Sentineldaten aus dem Zeitraum 2005 bis 2008 analysiert. Auch hier ergab sich ein Rückgang der Erkrankungshäufigkeit bei unter 1-Jährigen, und die berechnete Impfeffektivität bei 1-bis 2-Jährigen nach einer Varizellenimpfung lag bei 83% [3]. Beobachtungsstudien wie die Untersuchung von Varizellenausbrüchen in Kindertagestätten sowie die Analyse von Impfdurchbruchserkrankungen im Sentinel bestätigen darüber hinaus die in klinischen Studien belegte höhere Wirksamkeit von 2 Impfungen im Vergleich zu 1 Impfung bei der Vermeidung von Impfdurchbrüchen [9,16,19].…”