Abstract

PIP: The toxicity of pertussis vaccines can probably be reduced and the immunogenicity increased by recent improvements in purity and selectivity. Inactivated poliovirus vaccines show promise of inducing immunity with 2 doses administered in infancy. The Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) uses the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine, poliovirus vaccine, and measles virus vaccine. The incidence of serious toxicity (particularly screaming fits, attacks of pallor, or unusual behavior) and encephalitis is very low. A superior partially purified pertussis vaccine was developed by Sato that contained both the pertussis toxin and filamentous hemagglutinin. With the toxicity of purified-component vaccines reduced, the relevant pertussis antigens can be increased to the point where 2 doses will suffice. The present live oral polioviruses vaccine (OPV) and inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) are prone to thermal instability and a cold chain may be a necessary component of immunization with live poliovirus vaccine in the near future. It was shown that 4th and 5th doses of OPV given at 4-week intervals after the 3rd dose elevated the proportion of infants who developed serum antibody to types 1, 2, and 3 antigen from 69%, 90%, and 76%, respectively, up to 83%, 96%, and 82%. DTP vaccine improved to 2 doses is adequate for initial coverage then full immunization for DPT, poliomyelitis, and measles at 3 and 9 months of age. Vero cells of a heteroploid karyotype and of an indefinite lifespan were used to develop a poliovirus vaccine, as they do not produce tumors in rodents. WHO and the US Food and Drug Administration accepted them as safe as cell substrates for certain purified viral vaccines. Measles virus vaccines also have thermal instability and immunogenicity. Thermal instability was greatly reduced with the introduction of buffered glycerol-sorbitol before lyophilization. Immunogenicity in the presence of maternally derived antibody while indicating successful immunization also indicates susceptibility to measles. In a trial of aerosolized vaccine in Mexican children of different ages using the Edmonston-Zagreb (E-Z) vaccine and the Edmonston-Swartz (E-S) vaccine, successful immunization was high even in 6-month-old infants with the E-Z strain but not with the E-S strain. Both OPV and IPV will continue in general use and improvements will come from more efficient delivery schemes, particularly pulse immunization.