A position paper on meningococcal vaccines was published in 2011 and its recommendations remain valid.This update adds to the previous recommendations specifically concerning routine immunization of infants and young children in the African meningitis belt with meningococcal A conjugate vaccine, following discussions at the October 2014 SAGE meeting. Evidence presented at that meeting can be accessed at http://www.who.int/immunization/sage/meetings/2014/october/presentations_background_docs/en/.
Since publication of the meningococcal vaccine position paper, preventive mass campaigns in 17 of the 26 countries in the African meningitis belt have been, or are in the process of being implemented, and over 217 million persons have received monovalent meningococcal A (MenA) conjugate vaccine.2 A study in Chad provides evidence of the impact of the MenA conjugate vaccine on the incidence of serogroup A invasive disease and carriage. Two licensed formulations of the vaccine are available: (i) MenAfriVac, containing 10 μg of purified Men A polysaccharide antigen conjugated with tetanus toxoid (PsA-TT) per dose for use in those aged 1–29 years, and (ii) MenAfri- Vac 5 μg, containing 5 μg of PsA-TT per dose for use in infants and children aged 3–24 months. For clarity, in this paper the amounts of PsA-TT are specified for both vaccines.
- Position paper
