Children with cancer or children with diseases (such as autoimmune conditions) that require long-term immune suppressing medications are less able to fight against infections. They may not respond well to vaccines. Thus, vaccine schedules usually recommend extra doses to improve protection. However, we do not know how often these children go to hospital for diseases that vaccines can prevent, or how those illnesses affect them, compared with healthy children. Also, we have minimal information on how much these extra vaccine doses improve protection.
In this project, we will use already collected data to study immunocompromised children admitted to hospitals across Canada with vaccine-preventable infections. We will examine their symptoms and outcomes, and severity of disease in relation to vaccine schedules.
We will work closely with doctors and nurses to make sure our research reflects real clinical needs. We will share our findings in easy-to-understand formats so families, health-care providers and policy makers can use the results.
Findings will improve understanding of vaccine preventable diseases in this group. This information will enable us to identify the best vaccination schedules for these very vulnerable children.