Vaccines, Volume 14, Issue 2

Background/Objectives: Trained innate immunity refers to the enhanced responsiveness of innate immune cells, particularly macrophages, following exposure to stimuli such as β-glucan or zymosan, enabling improved defense against unrelated pathoge...

Objective: To evaluate the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Hungarian general practitioners (GPs) concerning human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, cervical cancer prevention, and HPV vaccination, and to identify physician-level factors...

Background/Objectives: Vaccines targeting melanoma antigens can elicit CD8⁺ T cell responses, but a growing body of work suggests CD4⁺ T cells also play a role in tumor control. Induction of CD4⁺ cells may also support B cells in producing tumor anti...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection worldwide and is a leading cause of cervical, anal, penile, and oropharyngeal cancers. This review summarizes the epidemiology of HPV and the immunogenicity, clinical effica...

Background/Objectives: African swine fever is currently the most devastating viral disease affecting domestic and wild suids, causing major economic losses and severe impacts on natural populations. Oral immunization could become an important tool to...

Background/Objectives: Polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines have proven highly effective, yet they remain limited by manufacturing complexity, cost, and variable performance across serotypes, while carrier proteins can add unwanted immunological...

Background/Objectives: Low vaccination coverage and the persistence of zero-dose children remain the principal challenges for immunization efforts in Madagascar. To address these barriers, a socio-anthropological study was conducted to identify the d...

Objectives: Carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-hvKP) merges multidrug resistance with hypervirulence, posing unprecedented therapeutic challenges. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a recombinant fusion protein vac...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for approximately 90% of primary liver cancers and remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. The management of HCC poses a major therapeutic challenge due to its pronounced molecular hetero...

Background/Objectives: Infant pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) have significantly reduced pneumococcal morbidity and mortality. Newer vaccines, 15-valent (PCV15) and 20-valent (PCV20), offer broader serotype coverage, potentially preventing more...

Background/Objectives: African swine fever virus (ASFV), the causative agent of African swine fever (ASF), is a highly contagious virus affecting both domestic and feral pig populations with mortality rates approaching 100% within one week of infecti...

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remains a major etiologic agent of acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRTI). Currently licensed RSV vaccines are administered by intramuscular injection and induce limited immunity at the respirato...

Background/Objectives: Antigen presenting cells (APCs) and immune cells have unique properties to drive or suppress immune responses. They are therefore key targets for the expression of vaccine antigens or transgene proteins. To better determine the...

Background: Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)-based vaccines show the potential to disrupt spermatogenesis without disturbing sexual function and libido in males. Herein, we developed a novel FSH vaccine based on the tandem of a conserved 13-amino a...

Population aging is the most significant demographic transformation of the 21st century, reshaping health systems, economies, and societies. The biological processes of immunosenescence and inflammaging weaken host defenses, reduce vaccine effectiven...

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of hospitalization in early infancy, with the greatest burden occurring in the first months of life. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries experienced intensified RSV circulat...

Background: SARS-CoV-2 infection has raised concerns about altered immune responses, creating a need to evaluate influenza vaccine performance in the post-COVID period. This study aimed to compare the immunogenicity and safety of a quadrivalent inact...

Background/Objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted virus worldwide and is frequently detected in women of reproductive age. In this population, HPV-related diseases and their management may affect reproductive h...

Persistent infection with hepatitis D virus (HDV), also known as hepatitis delta, is considered the most severe form of chronic viral hepatitis. HDV is a defective RNA virus that depends on hepatitis B virus (HBV) for propagation. Despite its global...

Background: The emergence of coccidial drug resistance has intensified the search for sustainable, residue-free solutions to control poultry coccidiosis. This challenge has positioned plant essential oils as promising candidates among the priority re...

Peptide-based vaccines offer a modular and readily manufacturable platform for both prophylactic and therapeutic immunization. However, their broader translation has been constrained by the limited capacity to predict protective immunity directly fro...

Background: People with HIV (PWH) face elevated risk of pneumococcal disease despite optimal antiretroviral therapy. In Italy, pneumococcal vaccination coverage in adults remains suboptimal. For PWH, access barriers may be amplified because adult vac...

Background/Objectives: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has a history of low coverage (<50%) with all first-year-of-life vaccines for children aged 12–23 months, resulting in frequent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. In r...

This study aimed to explore the cognitive levels and influencing factors of Shanghai residents regarding non-immunization program vaccines. A population-based study was conducted in Shanghai in 2024. Objective: To examine awareness levels and factors...

The development of a universal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine holds great promise for achieving broad and durable protection against existing and future coronavirus variants. The identification, selection, and rational redesign of conserved viral epitopes consti...

Background: The prognosis of glioblastoma (GBM) patients remains poor. Dendritic cell (DC) vaccination has been investigated as an immunotherapy option, mainly in early-phase clinical studies. Herein, we report the feasibility, safety, and descriptiv...

Background/Objectives: Aged care residents are highly vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases. Despite recommendations and funding under Australian programs, vaccination rates among residents for COVID-19, influenza, pneumococcal and shingles rema...

Background: Highly potent vaccines are essential for the effective control of classical swine fever (CSF). Since CSF re-emerged in 2018 in Japan, the live CSF virus (CSFV) vaccine—a guinea pig exaltation of Newcastle disease virus-negative stra...

Objectives: In response to the challenge that Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) vaccines fail to induce durable protective immunity, this study aims to develop a novel antigen-adjuvant co-design strategy. Specifically, we rationally combined the immu...

The prompt and extensive use of COVID-19 vaccines has dramatically reduced both cases and casualties, but it has also underscored a number of critical issues that need to be addressed for their full exploitation at global level. This Special Issue wa...

Background: Large urban centers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) often have persistent pockets of under-immunized children, despite higher overall vaccination coverage than rural areas. Lahore, a megacity in Pakistan, had the lowest rate o...

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are pivotal in influenza containment, serving as both high-risk individuals and vaccine advocates. However, influenza vaccination coverage among Chinese HCWs remains suboptimal. Existing research is often constra...

Background: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a benefit–risk assessment for Moderna’s COVID vaccine mRNA-1273 prior to its full approval, announced 31 January 2022. The FDA’s assessment focused on males 18–...

Background: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a severe viral infection of the central nervous system transmitted by tick bites. Vaccination represents the only effective preventive measure, yet data on TBE vaccine effectiveness in Italy are lacking. T...

The authors would like to make the following correction to the published paper [...]

As Guest Editors of the Special Issue “Trust, Willingness, and Associated Factors towards COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake” [...]

Background/Objectives: Sabin strain-based inactivated poliovirus vaccine (sIPV) is increasingly used in China’s routine immunization program and is often administered concomitantly with other childhood vaccines. However, large-scale real-world...

Background/Objectives: Maternal immunization against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an emerging strategy to protect infants during early life when they are most vulnerable to severe RSV infection. However, little is known about the willingness...

The development of safe, effective, and durable vaccines remains a central goal in preventing infectious diseases in humans and animals [...]

Spatial transcriptomics (ST) enables genome-wide gene expression profiling while preserving tissue architecture, bridging the gap between bulk, single-cell, and histological analyses. Originating in 2016 and rapidly evolving since, ST has transformed...

Background/Objectives: The rapid development of safe and efficacious vaccines is often hindered by extensive, mandated non-clinical safety evaluations in animals. With the aim to provide scientific evidence supporting a “vaccine platform approa...

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is the leading cause of cervical and oropharyngeal cancers. Vaccination can prevent over 90% of HPV-attributed cancers. Rural populations are less likely to initiate and complete HPV vaccinations than urban. The primary...

Background/Objectives: Adjuvants, added to vaccines to enhance immune responses, are central to shaping the magnitude and durability of immunity, yet their precise mechanisms remain incompletely defined. This study evaluated how diverse adjuvant comb...

Respiratory infections cause substantial morbidity and mortality in older adults and other at-risk adult populations. Despite the availability of effective vaccines, adult vaccination coverage remains suboptimal. This narrative review examines strate...

Background/Objectives: Vaccination coverage among adolescents remains below the recommended target, highlighting the need for effective educational strategies to improve vaccine knowledge. This study aimed to assess baseline knowledge of vaccines and...

Background: Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) caused by Neisseria meningitidis remains a major public health concern due to its severity, lethality, and long-term sequelae. To address the rise in serogroups W and Y in Spain, the Community of Madri...

Background/Objectives: Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), particularly the emerging GII genotype, poses a severe threat to the swine industry in affected regions, primarily in Asia. Current vaccines based on classical strains often provide limit...

Background/Objectives: HPV vaccination rates among U.S. young adults remain unchanged at 47% since 2019. Barriers including misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, and stigma surrounding HPV’s long-standing association with sexually transmitted infe...

Background: Children with special healthcare needs (CSHCNs) face persistent barriers to timely immunization in China, but comparative evidence across disease groups and vaccines, and data on immune function, are limited. Methods: We conducted a retro...

Background/Objectives: Persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection can lead to malignancies of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus, and oropharynx. The increasing incidence of HPV-related head and neck cancers has raised concerns regarding pot...