Conjugate meningococcal serogroup A and C vaccine: Reactogenicity and immunogenicity in United Kingdom infants

The reactogenicity and immunogenicity of a serogroup A and C meningococcal polysaccharide-CRM₁₉₇ conjugate vaccine was evaluated in 58 infants who received three doses at 2, 3, and 4 months of age. The conjugate vaccine produced few systemic side effects, and local reactions were significantly less common than those produced by the routine vaccinations. The prevaccination geometric mean titers (GMTs) of A and C polysaccharide antibodies were, respectively, 2.8 and 0.6 μg/mL, rising to 21.5 and 38.5 μg/mL by 1 month after the third dose (age 5 months) and falling to 3.1 and 2.2 μg/mL by 14 months of age. Prevaccination serum bactericidal titers against 2 serogroup C meningococci strains were <1/4 in 49 of 52 infants, rising to a GMT of 1/3082 at 1 month after the third dose and falling by age 14 months to a GMT of 1/10. Thus, this meningococcal conjugate vaccine proved to be safe and immunogenic, inducing high levels of anti-C polysaccharide antibodies that were bactericidal in young infants.