Published in

MDPI, Vaccines, 9(11), p. 1442, 2023

DOI: 10.3390/vaccines11091442

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Safety of Interchanging the Live Attenuated MAV/06 Strain and OKA Strain Varicella Vaccines in Children

Journal article published in 2023 by Hyun Mi Kang ORCID, Gwanglok Kim, Young June Choe
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Two live attenuated varicella vaccine (VZV) strains have been mainly used across the globe: MAV/06 and OKA strains. We aimed to explore the safety of interchanging the two VZV strains for primary and booster immunizations. South Korea’s vaccine adverse event reporting system (VAERS) was accessed and searched to find filed reports of all adverse events (AEs) following immunization with the second dose of the varicella vaccine. The electronic medical records were reviewed for all visits to the hospital following the second dose of the varicella vaccine. Of the total 406 study participants, 27.5% (n = 112) were in the MAV/06–MAV/06 group, 30.3% (n = 123) in the MAV/06–OKA, 17.5% (n = 71) in the OKA–MAV/06 group, and 24.6% (n = 100) in the OKA–OKA group. Mean age at immunization with the first dose was 1.10 (standard deviation [SD] ±0.34) years old, and second dose was 4.77 (SD ± 1.13) (p = 0.772 and 0.933, respectively). There were no filed reports of AEs following the second dose in the national VAERS. Hospital visit records showed a total of 10.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 7.6–13.7) (n = 42) had recorded AEs following the 2nd administered dose; however, only 0.7% (95% CI, 0.2–2.4) (n = 3) were regarded as possibly vaccine related. Two patients in the MAV/06–OKA group were diagnosed with Henoch-Schonlein purpura after the second dose; however, both had also received the MMR vaccine on the same day. No safety signals associated with interchanging the MAV/06 and OKA strain live attenuated varicella vaccines were observed in this patient cohort of healthy children.