Serological Response of Infants to Poliomyelitis Vaccine

A study of polio vaccination in infancy: excretion following challenge with live virus by children given killed or living poliovaccine

“…This was presumably due to the high D-antigen content of the type 1 component (Beale & Ungar, 1962); similar good results have been obtained in older children by Dane et al (1962). The inhibitory effect of maternal antibody, first reported by Perkins et al (1958, was overcome by the potent type 1 antigen.…”

“…conditions. It was appreciated that the children might be too young for an optimal response to the poliovaccine component, since Perkins, Yetts & Gaisford (1958 have shown that the response, particularly to the type 1 component of an inactivated vaccine, was poor in infants under 6 months of age. They showed that the response was improved by increasing the strength of the type 1 component.…”

Present Situation with Formalin-killed Poliomyelitis Vaccine

“…We know that in Britain protection was afforded to both pre-school and primary-school-age children. We know from serological studies that older children and adults respond to vaccination in much the same way as younger children, but at the other end of the scale a recent paper gives evidence suggesting that the response of infants may be inadequate because of maternally transmitted antibody (Perkins, Yetts,^and Gaisford, 1958). We know from the surveillance programmes in countries using killed-virus vaccines that no major catastrophe has occurred since the Cutter incident, although we cannot say categorically that no one has been infected with live virus.…”

Responses of 6- and 9-months-old Infants to Two and Three Doses of Poliomyelitis Vaccine

“…We have already shown that the response to active immunization in infants with high levels of maternally transmitted antibody is unsatisfactory (Perkins, Yetts, andGaisford, 1958, 1959a). It was not possible to overcome the inhibitory effect of these antibodies in 1-week-old infants with current vaccines, even though the volume and number of the antigenic stimuli are increased, but we were able to show that in 16-weeks-old infants a more satisfactory basal immunity followed primary immunization with three doses of vaccine given at monthly intervals, though the maternal antibody still present in some of these infants inhibited their response to the most important component, type 1 (Perkins, Yetts, and Gaisford, 1959b). It seems clear, therefore, that satisfactory response will not be obtained in all infants until maternal antibody has fallen to non-inhibitory levels, and it is estimated that this will not be until after the age of 6 months.…”