Effectiveness and duration of protection of primary and booster immunisation against meningococcal serogroup C disease with meningococcal conjugate C and ACWY vaccines: Systematic review

Objectives

To estimate vaccine effectiveness (VE) and duration of protection of single primary and booster immunisation with meningococcal C (MenC) and ACWY (MenACWY) conjugate vaccines in preventing MenC invasive meningococcal disease (IMD).

Methods

We performed a systematic review on studies of VE and immunogenicity (rSBA/hSBA titers) of participants aged 12–23 months for primary and 6–18 years for booster immunisation (last search: 18 August 2023). Risk of bias and certainty of evidence were evaluated (PROSPERO: CRD42020178773).

Results

We identified 10 studies. Two studies reported VE of primary immunisation with MenC vaccines ranging between 90% (74.9 – 96.1) and 84.1% (41.5 – 95.7) for periods of 2 and 7 years, respectively. Eight studies reported immunogenicity of primary immunisation with MenC and/or MenACWY vaccines, of which two reported -in addition- on booster immunisation. The percentage of participants with protective rSBA titers was high after primary immunisation but waned over the following 6 years. A single booster at the age of 7 years or older seems to prolong protection for several years.

Conclusions

A single dose of MenC or MenACWY vaccine at 12–23 months of age provides robust protection against MenC IMD. Data on booster immunisation are sparse, but indicate prolonged protection for three years at least.