Background: Group A meningococcal disease occurs in large epidemics within the meningitis belt of Africa that includes northern Ghana. Major epidemics in the meningitis belt have infection rates ranging from 100 to 800 per 100 000 population. In 2012, a group A meningococcal conjugate vaccine, PsA-TT (MenAfriVac), was introduced into the region in large campaigns.
Methods: We report here on the safety of this vaccine when used in pregnant women in the Navrongo region of Ghana.
Results: Rates of events in 1730 immunized pregnant women and their infants were compared to the rates of the same events in pregnant women who did not receive the vaccine during the campaign and also to women who were pregnant in the prior year.
Conclusions: We found no evidence of any safety concerns when this vaccine was administered during pregnancy.
Keywords: Ghana; PsA-TT; group A meningococcal vaccine; pregnancy; safety.
© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.