Vaccination of healthcare workers to protect patients at increased risk of acute respiratory disease: summary of a systematic review

Abstract

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of exposure to respiratory pathogens and may transmit infection to vulnerable patients. This study summarises a recent systematic review, which aimed to assess evidence that influenza or pneumococcal vaccination of HCWs provides indirect protection for those patients most at risk of severe or complicated acute respiratory infection. A number of healthcare databases and sources of grey literature were searched using a predefined strategy, and citations screened for eligibility in accordance with specified inclusion criteria. Risk of bias was assessed using validated tools and results summarised qualitatively. Twenty papers were included in the final review, all of which considered influenza vaccination of HCW. As such, planned subanalysis of pneumococcal vaccination was discarded. The majority of primary research studies included (11/14) were conducted in long‐term care facilities, but there was marked heterogeneity in terms of the population, intervention/exposure and outcomes considered. Consistency in the direction of effect was observed across several different outcome measures, suggesting that influenza vaccination of HCWs is likely to offer some protection. Further evidence is, however, required from acute care settings.

Transmission and Effect of Multiple Clusters of Seasonal Influenza in a Swiss Geriatric Hospital

“…10 Inadequate immune response, a low proportion of vaccinated individuals, and the possible antigenic drift of circulating influenza viruses may impair the protective effect of influenza vaccination in elderly adults. 11,12 The fact that isolation in single rooms or cohorting of infected patients is often not feasible further complicates control-ling influenza in geriatric settings. In addition, adherence to specific infection control procedures tends to be lower in the geriatric setting, because collaboration of patients with regard to basic hygiene measures is difficult to achieve.…”

Postexposure management of healthcare personnel to infectious diseases

“…The effectiveness of influenza vaccine to prevent influenza varies and depends on the age and health status of the person and the match between the circulating strains and the strains included in the vaccine for that season [68,70]. The influenza vaccine is~90% serologically effective in HCP but the vaccine impact on clinical illness among HCP and their contacts is not well established [71][72][73][74]. Postexposure management of other infections transmitted by the droplet route are summarized in Table 4 [39,[75][76][77][78][79][80].…”

Pneumococcal Vaccine as One of the Immunization Coverage Targets For Adulthood Vaccines: A Consensus Report of the Study Group For Adult Immunization of the Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

“…Pnömokok aşısı için e-posta ve cep telefonları aracılığıyla anımsatma notları iletilmesinin, eriş-kin popülasyondaki aşılama oranlarını artırdığı bildirilmiştir (123). Sağlık personelinin pnömokok aşılamasıyla, grip aşısı-na benzer biçimde, riskli hastaların dolaylı olarak korunması da düşünülebilir (124).…”