Invasive meningococcal disease and meningococcal meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis have their highest incidence in children, with a second peak in adolescents and young adults. The most important disease-causing serogroups are meningococcal serogroups A (MenA), MenB, MenC, MenW and MenY. Their prevalence varies geographically, MenA and MenC being more prominent in Asia. Neisseria meningitidis is one of the leading causes of bacterial meningitis globally. The annual number of cases related to invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is estimated to be at least 1.2 million with 135 000 deaths.1 To combat IMD, an increasing number of countries have included vaccines against N. meningitidis in their routine immunization programs. The specific vaccine use in each country depends on the predominant serogroups, cost, and availability. Polysaccharide vaccines were used in high risk people in Saudi Arabia and Syria and in routine immunization in China and Egypt. In general, conjugate vaccines are preferred to polysaccharide vaccines due to their impact on decreasing nasopharyngeal carriage of N. meningitidis and their overall increased immunogenicity in children. This clinical trial is planning to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of bivalent meningococcal serogroups A and C tetanus toxoid conjugate vaccine in Chinese healthy children aged 3 months to 5 years.
Invasive meningococcal disease and meningococcal meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis have their highest incidence in children, with a second peak in adolescents and young adults. The most important disease-causing serogroups are meningococcal serogroups A (MenA) and MenC in Asia, such as China. The specific vaccine use in each country depends on the predominant serogroups, cost, and availability. conjugate vaccines are preferred to polysaccharide vaccines due to their impact on decreasing nasopharyngeal carriage of N. meningitidis and their overall increased immunogenicity in children. This clinical trial is planning to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of bivalent meningococcal serogroups A and C tetanus toxoid conjugate vaccine in Chinese healthy children aged 3 months to 5 years.