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• We used a matched cohort design to study the differential impacts of SLIV by race and ethnicity. • Racial disparities in vaccine coverage and hospitalizations persisted in the presence of SLIV. • Vaccine hesitance remained a common reason for non-vaccination in school-aged children. Increasing influenza vaccination coverage in school-aged children may substantially reduce community transmission. School-located influenza vaccinations (SLIV) aim to promote vaccinations by increasing accessibility, which may be especially beneficial to race/ethnicity groups that face high barriers to preventative care. Here, we evaluate the effectiveness of a city-wide SLIV program by race/ethnicity from 2014 to 2018. We used multivariate matching to pair schools in the intervention district in Oakland, CA with schools in a comparison district in West Contra Costa County, CA. We distributed cross-sectional surveys to measure caregiver-reported student vaccination status and estimated differences in vaccination coverage levels and reasons for non-vaccination between districts stratifying by race/ethnicity. We estimated difference-in-differences (DID) of laboratory confirmed influenza hospitalization incidence between districts stratified by race/ethnicity using surveillance data. Differences in influenza vaccination coverage in the intervention vs. comparison district were larger among White (2017–18: 21.0% difference [95% CI: 9.7%, 32.3%]) and Hispanic/Latino (13.4% [8.8%, 18.0%]) students than Asian/Pacific Islander (API) (8.9% [1.3%, 16.5%]), Black (5.9% [−2.2%, 14.0%]), and multiracial (6.3% [−1.8%, 14.3%)) students. Concerns about vaccine effectiveness or safety were more common among Black and multiracial caregivers. Logistical barriers were less common in the intervention vs. comparison district, with the largest difference among White students. In both districts, hospitalizations in 2017–18 were higher in Blacks (Intervention: 111.5 hospitalizations per 100,00; Comparison: 134.1 per 100,000) vs. other races/ethnicities. All-age influenza hospitalization incidence was lower in the intervention site vs. comparison site among White/API individuals in 2016–17 (DID −25.14 per 100,000 [95% CI: −40.14, −10.14]) and 2017–18 (−36.6 per 100,000 [−52.7, −20.5]) and Black older adults in 2017–18 (−282.2 per 100,000 (−508.4, −56.1]), but not in other groups. SLIV was associated with higher vaccination coverage and lower influenza hospitalization, but associations varied by race/ethnicity. SLIV alone may be insufficient to ensure equitable influenza outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the effectiveness of the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) for preventing herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) in the general United States population. Retrospective, observational cohort study. Individuals enrolled in the OptumLabs Data Warehouse (OLDW; OptumLabs, Cambridge, MA) who were age eligible for herpes zoster (HZ) vaccination (≥50 years of age) from 2018 through 2019. The OLDW is a longitudinal, de-identified administrative claims and electronic health record database of patients in the United States with commercial insurance, Medicare Part D, or Medicare Advantage Patients were required to have 365 days or more of continuous enrollment to be eligible. Those with a diagnosis code of HZ or an immunocompromising condition within 1 year before study inclusion were excluded. Vaccination with the RZV was ascertained by Current Procedural Terminology codes, and HZO was ascertained by International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, codes. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio of HZO associated with RZV, and inverse-probability weighting was used to control for confounding. Vaccine effectiveness was calculated from hazard ratios. Incidence of HZO in vaccinated versus unvaccinated person-times and vaccine effectiveness were assessed. From January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2019, a total of 4 842 579 individuals were included in this study. One hundred seventy-seven thousand two hundred eighty-nine (3.7%) received 2 valid doses of RZV. The incidence rate of HZO was 25.5 cases (95% confidence interval [CI], 17.4–35.8 cases) per 100 000 person-years in the vaccinated group compared with 76.7 cases (95% CI, 74.7–78.7 cases) in the unvaccinated group. The overall adjusted effectiveness of RZV against HZO was 89.1% (95% CI, 82.9%–93.0%). The effectiveness of RZV against HZO in individuals 50 years of age and older is high in a clinical setting. However, the low vaccination rate in this study highlights the public health need to increase HZV use. Ophthalmologists can play an important role in recommending vaccination to eligible patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Retrospective cohort study of recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) effectiveness. • First study assessing RZV effectiveness among a population in Hawaii. • Use of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii electronic health records database. • Application of inverse probability weighting to adjust for confounding. • RZV is highly effective against both herpes zoster and herpes zoster ophthalmicus. The incidence of herpes zoster (HZ) has been on the rise for decades in the United States. Clinical trials for the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) demonstrated vaccine efficacy of over 90% in preventing herpes zoster. However, there is limited information on its effectiveness outside of a clinical trial setting, as well as its effectiveness against herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO). A de-identified electronic health records database from Kaiser Permanente Hawaii (KPH) was used to conduct this retrospective cohort study to assess the effectiveness of the recombinant zoster vaccine against HZ and HZO in immunocompetent, vaccine age-eligible individuals without a prior history of HZ, who were continuously enrolled in KPH for ≥365 days prior to becoming age-eligible for RZV between January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2019. A total of 78 356 adults were included in this study, with 11 864 (15.1%) adults receiving two valid doses of the recombinant zoster vaccine. The incidence rate of HZ was 325.6 (95% CI: 217.7 to 464.4) cases per 100 000 person-years in vaccinated persons compared to 1063.3 cases per 100 000 person-years (95% CI: 1006.0 to 1122.8) in the unvaccinated group. The incidence rate of HZO was 11.9 (95% CI: 0.7 to 52.3) cases per 100 000 person-years in the vaccinated group compared to 72.1 (95% CI: 58.0 to 88.3) in the unvaccinated group. RZV was 83.5% (95% CI: 74.9% to 89.2%) effective against HZ and 93.3% (95% CI: 48.7% to 99.1%) effective against HZO. RZV has demonstrated high effectiveness against both HZ and HZO outside of a clinical trial setting in the United States. Vaccine coverage is low, emphasizing the need for public health efforts to increase vaccination to reduce morbidity from HZ and HZO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]