Reducing the number of doses of an anthrax vaccine and changing its administration to intramuscular injection resulted in comparable measures of effectiveness but with fewer adverse events, according to a study in the October 1 issue of JAMA.
Gregory Poland, M.D. is director of the Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group and is a co-author of the paper published in JAMA.
“Even early on in this study it’s apparent that it is safe to give the vaccine intramuscularly, instead of just under the skin. It cut the side effects — the local side effects — in half, and yet the immunogenicity — the development of antibody against the vaccine — was equal to the way it’s currently licensed. And thirdly, we could drop one of the doses,” Dr. Poland explains.
