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Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in Australia commenced in February 2021. The first vaccines recommended for use were AZD1222 and BNT162b2, both delivered as a two-dose primary schedule. In the absence of sustained immunity following immunisation, recommendations for booster vaccination have followed. It is likely that periodic boosting will be necessary for at least some Australians, but it is unknown what the optimal booster vaccines and schedules are or for whom vaccination should be recommended.
PICOBOO is a randomised, adaptive trial evaluating the immunogenicity, reactogenicity, and safety of COVID-19 booster strategies. Here, we present data for second boosters among individuals aged 18-<50 and 50-<70 years old primed with BNT162b2 until Day (D) 84.
Healthy skin is important for maintaining overall physical and cultural health and wellbeing. However, remote-living Australian Aboriginal children contend with disproportionally high rates of Streptococcus pyogenes (Strep A) infected impetigo.
Head lice is an ectoparasitic skin infection commonly seen in primary school-aged children. In remote Australia, where rates of other skin infections and downstream sequelae are endemic, the rate of head lice infestation is unknown.
Clinical trial designs are typically narrowly focused on error control in hypothesis testing, but this approach is inadequate in many contexts, particularly when a decision maker intends to, or must, consider multiple relevant clinical and health economic outcomes under uncertainty. Value-of-information (VoI) metrics can be used to estimate the monetary value of data collection to the decision maker.
To develop consensus on the priorities for multi-centre, inpatient general paediatrics research in Australia and New Zealand.
Adaptive clinical trials have designs that evolve over time because of changes to treatments or changes to the chance that participants will receive these treatments. These changes might introduce confounding that biases crude comparisons of the treatment arms and makes the results from standard reporting methods difficult to interpret for adaptive trials. To deal with this shortcoming, a reporting framework for adaptive trials was developed based on concurrently randomised cohort reporting.
We compared the epidemiology, severity and management of hospitalized respiratory syncytial virus (n = 305) and human metapneumovirus (n = 39) bronchiolitis in a setting with high respiratory virus testing (95% of admissions tested). Respiratory syncytial virus-positive infants were younger and tended to require more hydration support and longer hospital stays compared to human metapneumovirus-positive infants. Respiratory support requirements were similar between groups despite significant age differences.
Despite evidence supporting earlier discharge of well-appearing febrile infants at low risk of serious bacterial infection (SBI), admissions for ≥48 hours remain common. Prospective safety monitoring may support broader guideline implementation.
Tom Snelling BMBS DTMH GDipClinEpid PhD FRACP Head, Infectious Disease Implementation Research 08 6319 1817 tom.snelling@thekids.org.au Head,