Ray Borrow

TL;DR: In this article, a review of the SBA activity as a correlate of protection for evaluating the immune response to meningococcal vaccines is described, and the proportions of vaccines with > or =4-fold rises in SBA pre-to-post-vaccination or SBA titres < or = 4 have been correlated with clinical efficacy in trials of outer membrane vesicle (OMV) vaccines in Cuba, Brazil and Norway.

TL;DR: Both PCV7 and PCV13 have had a major effect in reducing the burden of invasive pneumococcal disease in England and Wales; however, rapid increases in some non-PCV13 serotypes are compromising the benefits of the programme.

TL;DR: The rMenB+OMV vaccine has the potential to protect infants from MenB disease, although the breadth of protection afforded to heterologous antigens requires additional investigation.

TL;DR: The two-dose 4CMenB priming schedule was highly effective in preventing MenB disease in infants, and cases in vaccine-eligible infants halved in the first 10 months of the programme.

TL;DR: The laboratory confirmation of meningococcal disease and characterization of Neisseria meningitidis isolates was improved considerably in England and Wales by the Meningococcal Reference Unit between epidemiological years 1993/94 and 2003/04 to meet the challenge of increasing numbers of cases of clinical disease and the requirement for enhanced surveillance.