Pierre Van Damme - Böcker

Mathematical epidemiology of infectious diseases usually involves describing the flow of individuals between mutually exclusive infection states. One of the key parameters describing the transition from the susceptible to the infected class is the hazard of infection, often referred to as the force of infection. The force of infection reflects the degree of contact with potential for transmission between infected and susceptible individuals. The mathematical relation between the force of infection and effective contact patterns is generally assumed to be subjected to the mass action principle, which yields the necessary information to estimate the basic reproduction number, another key parameter in infectious disease epidemiology. It is within this context that the Center for Statistics (CenStat, I-Biostat, Hasselt University) and the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination and the Centre for Health Economic Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CEV, CHERMID, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp) have collaborated over the past 15 years. This book demonstrates the past and current research activities of these institutes and can be considered to be a milestone in this collaboration. This book is focused on the application of modern statistical methods and models to estimate infectious disease parameters. We want to provide the readers with software guidance, such as R packages, and with data, as far as they can be made publicly available.

Mathematical epidemiology of infectious diseases usually involves describing the flow of individuals between mutually exclusive infection states. One of the key parameters describing the transition from the susceptible to the infected class is the hazard of infection, often referred to as the force of infection. The force of infection reflects the degree of contact with potential for transmission between infected and susceptible individuals. The mathematical relation between the force of infection and effective contact patterns is generally assumed to be subjected to the mass action principle, which yields the necessary information to estimate the basic reproduction number, another key parameter in infectious disease epidemiology. It is within this context that the Center for Statistics (CenStat, I-Biostat, Hasselt University) and the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination and the Centre for Health Economic Research and Modelling Infectious Diseases (CEV, CHERMID, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp) have collaborated over the past 15 years. This book demonstrates the past and current research activities of these institutes and can be considered to be a milestone in this collaboration. This book is focused on the application of modern statistical methods and models to estimate infectious disease parameters. We want to provide the readers with software guidance, such as R packages, and with data, as far as they can be made publicly available.

This second fully updated and extended edition of the textbook serves as a highly readable guide on latest developments in vaccine development and vaccination programs in infants, children and adolescents from a European perspective.

This second fully updated and extended edition of the textbook serves as a highly readable guide on latest developments in vaccine development and vaccination programs in infants, children and adolescents from a European perspective.

This textbook provides a comprehensive reference on adult vaccines and immunization practices tailored to the European context. The reader is guided from assessing the health burden of vaccine-preventable infections to evaluating the cost-effectiveness of new adult vaccination schedules, introducing and establishing such initiatives, and communicating and managing vaccination programs. The authors update on routine and new vaccines for a number of common pathogens in Europe, such as SARS-CoV-2, RSV and influenza, and also provide information on travel-related vaccinations. The book discusses in detail individualized, risk-based vaccination for different patient groups and also provides insights into current pipeline development, and an outlook on the future prospects for adult vaccination.All editors are part of the Adult Immunization Board (AIB) created in November 2022. The AIB is a European platform that brings together experts to address key challenges in adult vaccination. The goal is to promote evidence-based policies, knowledge sharing, and cross-country collaboration to improve adult immunization. The AIB secretariat based at the University of Antwerp and University of Florence is responsible for the operational and scientific tasks of the AIB and took the lead in coordinating the writing of this book supported by its AIB advisors and other selected experts.

This graduate textbook serves as a highly readable guide on vaccines and vaccination in infants, children and adolescents from an European perspective. The first part of the book is dedicated to childhood and adolescent vaccine schedules, maternal and neonatal immunization and safety of vaccines.