Informing Vaccination Strategies For Pregnant Women Through Linked Population Health Data
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$318,768.00
Summary
Vaccination during pregnancy has health benefits for mothers and their infants; however, it is a relatively new area of research, and the immediate and long-term consequences for children are currently not well understood. As part of this fellowship, I plan to conduct research into the long-term health impacts of vaccination during pregnancy. This fellowship will build my career as a perinatal epidemiologist and establish expertise in Australia related to vaccines given during pregnancy.
Assessing Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Effectiveness: Integrating Transmission Models, Genetics And Cohort Data To Inform Policy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$429,597.00
Summary
Between 2009-12 a very large epidemic of whooping cough occurred in Australia. More surprisingly during the course of the epidemic the bacteria that cause whooping cough showed genetic changes that seemed to avoid protection provided by the current vaccine against whooping cough in Australia. This grant seeks to use mathematical models of whooping cough transmission to explain how this occurred and to establish whether alternative vaccination strategies might improve the control of this disease.
Vaccination Timeliness In Aboriginal And Non-Aboriginal Infants: Risk Factors For Delayed Vaccination And Impact On Disease Burden—a Record Linkage Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$538,183.00
Summary
Vaccination has had a significant impact, but preventable infections continue to occur, perhaps due to delayed uptake of scheduled doses. For the first time, we will link vaccination and other health records to: provide accurate estimates of the impact of vaccination; identify reasons for delayed vaccination; and quantify the expected reduction in disease burden if vaccination timeliness was improved. The study will help determine who would benefit most from efforts to improve timeliness.
Understanding The Likely Population Impact Of New And Improved Influenza Vaccines
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$358,678.00
Summary
Influenza causes a large burden of death and disease each year, as well as disruptive pandemics. Vaccines that could protect against more than one season�s flu strains (including new pandemic viruses) would be highly desirable, and may be on the horizon. Our aim is to understand the likely impact of these new vaccines on the way flu viruses spread between people, and change from one season to the next. This information is needed to justify their introduction, and inform their best use.
Spatial Simulation Modelling Of Containment Strategies For Pandemic Influenza
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$99,927.00
Summary
This research will develop a spatial simulation model to predict the spread of pandemic influenza within Australia. The resulting software program will be readily usable by disease managers, both during and prior to an outbreak, to predict the effect of various containment measures on the size, rate and location of disease spread, through a city, state or the nation. Deployed in _real time� after an outbreak has started in Australia, it will be used to predict infection spread and the containmen ....This research will develop a spatial simulation model to predict the spread of pandemic influenza within Australia. The resulting software program will be readily usable by disease managers, both during and prior to an outbreak, to predict the effect of various containment measures on the size, rate and location of disease spread, through a city, state or the nation. Deployed in _real time� after an outbreak has started in Australia, it will be used to predict infection spread and the containment effect of a range of interventions. The model would use data obtained during initial stages of the outbreak to refine the model, so allowing accuracy in daily spread prediction; similar use of spatial models occurred during the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak in the UK. In a pre-pandemic period the simulation model will be available to predict the containment effect of a range of response measures, such as travel restrictions, workplace and school closures, vaccination and antiviral usage. Specifically, this project will apply the simulation model to determine optimal use of limited resources such as the _when and where� targeting of antiviral drugs and initial supplies of vaccine.Read moreRead less
Combining Health, Laboratory And Immunisation Data Sources To Identify Opportunities For The Prevention Of Chest Infections In Young Aboriginal And Non-Aboriginal Children
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$428,469.00
Summary
Chest infections are one of the major reasons children are admitted to hospital, particularly in Aboriginal children. This project will determine whether current vaccines have reduced hospital visits and how many children are affected by multiple infections. It will also identify where better vaccination programs are needed. This will be done by bringing together and analysing a range of infection and hospital records to paint a true picture of the impact of chest infections in children.
Immunising Aboriginal Mothers With Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine To Prevent Infant Ear Disease And Carriage
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,131,530.00
Summary
Aboriginal children experience the highest rates of acute and chronic ear infections in the world, with resultant permanent ear damage, hearing loss and educational disadvantage. These infections are mainly bacterial, and Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is the predominant pathogen. Pneumococcal colonisation and infection begins within days of birth, many months before any potential immunological protection from infant pneumococcal conjugate vaccine may be expected. New strategies are nee ....Aboriginal children experience the highest rates of acute and chronic ear infections in the world, with resultant permanent ear damage, hearing loss and educational disadvantage. These infections are mainly bacterial, and Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is the predominant pathogen. Pneumococcal colonisation and infection begins within days of birth, many months before any potential immunological protection from infant pneumococcal conjugate vaccine may be expected. New strategies are needed to eliminate, or at least delay, this early-onset pneumococcal colonisation. One such strategy is the administration to the mother of pneumococcal vaccine, which may protect the newborn infant by leading to higher titres of transplacental or breast milk pneumococcal antibodies and-or by reducing carriage (and transmission to the infant) of maternal pneumococci. Previous small studies using this strategy have been encouraging, but there have been no studies properly evaluating carriage or disease endpoints in infants. The polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine is currently recommended for all Aboriginal and Torres Islander persons aged 15 years or more in the Northern Territory but uptake of the vaccine has been poor. We propose to conduct a pilot study to determine if maternal immunisation with this vaccine, either in the third trimester of pregancy of immediately following delivery, can reduce pneumococcal carriage and the prevalence of middle ear disease among Aboriginal infants at seven months of age. We aim to recruit 210 Aboriginal women who have uncomplicated pregnancies from Darwin and remote communities in the Top End of the Northern Territory. Each subject and their infant offspring will be followed-up after vaccination and at birth, one , two and seven months after birth.Read moreRead less