During his session, “Advances in Vaccines,” presented at the 2022 Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference, Kenneth J. Tomecki, MD, reviewed old and new vaccinations.

Dr Tomecki kicked off the session with the impact of vaccination. “It has markedly decreased morbidity and mortality for the general population, especially vaccines for preventable disease in [children],” he mentioned. “Vaccines in the last 20 years have decreased the likely number of deaths: 20 million worldwide simply because of vaccination.”

He continued by outlining the main dermatology vaccines of 2022:

• Measles/mumps/rubella (MMR)
  • 2 doses
  • Adverse reaction: hypersensitivity reactions occasionally occur and sometimes exanthem
• Varicella (Varivax, Proquad)
  • 2 doses
  • Should not be given to immunocompromised patients
  • Protection duration is probably decades
  • Adverse reaction: occasional varicella-like exanthem
• Herpes zoster/shingles
  • Zostavax: decreases the likelihood of zoster by 50%
  • Shingrix: new and improved dead inactivated vaccine – 2 doses for healthy adults
• Human papillomavirus (Gardasil 9)
  • 3 doses
  • Given to boys and young men, girls and young women (aged 9 to 26 years), not given during pregnancy but can be given to men who have sex with men

Next, Dr Tomecki discussed future vaccines. He stated that we need vaccines for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and leprosy. “But [there is] recent good news about the vaccine [for] malaria,” he remarked.

• Malaria: Mosquirix
• Dengue: Dengvaxia
• Ebola: Ervebo
• Monkeypox: Jynneos, Acam2000
• COVID-19:
  • Moderna/NIH
  • BioNTech/Pfizer
  • Astra Zeneca/Oxford, Johnson & Johnson
  • Sinopharm (Chinese)
  • Sputnik V (Russian)

Dr Tomecki concluded with the vaccines that the CDC recommends individuals receive in their lifetime:

• Influenza
• Pneumococcal
• Tdap
• MMR
• Zoster
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Meningitis
• COVID-19

Reference
Tomecki KJ. Advances in vaccines. Presented at: Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference 2022; October 20–23, 2022; Las Vegas, NV.