Dutch Healthcare Professionals’ Opinion on the Allocation of Responsibilities concerning Prescribing and Administering Medically Indicated Vaccines to Immunocompromised Patients

Background: Specific vaccines are indicated for immunocompromised patients (ICPs) due to their vulnerability to infections. Recommendation of these vaccines by healthcare professionals (HCPs) is a crucial facilitator for vaccine uptake. Unfortunately, the responsibilities to recommend and administer these vaccines are not clearly allocated among HCPs involved in the care of adult ICPs. We aimed to evaluate HCPs’ opinions on directorship and their role in facilitating the uptake of medically indicated vaccines as a basis to improve vaccination practices. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed among in-hospital medical specialists (MSs), general practitioners (GPs), and public health specialists (PHSs) in the Netherlands to assess their opinion on directorship and the implementation of vaccination care. Additionally, perceived barriers, facilitators, and possible solutions to improve vaccine uptake were investigated. Results: In total, 306 HCPs completed the survey. HCPs almost unanimously (98%) reported that according to them, the primary treating physician is responsible for recommending medically indicated vaccines. Administering these vaccines was seen as a more shared responsibility. The most important barriers experienced by HCPs in recommending and administering were reimbursement problems, a lack of a national vaccination registration system, insufficient collaboration among HCPs, and logistical problems. MSs, GPs and PHSs all mentioned the same three solutions as important strategies to improve vaccination practices, i.e., reimbursement of vaccines, reliable and easily accessible registration of received vaccines, and arrangements for collaboration among the different HCPs that are involved in care. Conclusion: The improvement in vaccination practices in ICPs should focus on better collaboration among MSs, GPs, and PHSs, who should know each other’s expertise; clear agreement on responsibility; reimbursement for vaccines; and the availability of clear registration of vaccination history.</p

Erratum: Immunogenicity and reactogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in people living with HIV in the Netherlands:A nationwide prospective cohort study

Fig 3 panel B contains a mislabeled axis. The label ‘Pre—HIV negative’ should be ‘Post—HIV negative.’ Please see the correct Fig 3 below.</p

Diagnosis, treatment and supportive management of chronic lymphocytic leukemia:recommendations of the Dutch HOVON CLL working group

Management of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is changing due to considerable advances in the therapeutic armamentarium, and new therapies will possibly continue to emerge in the near future. Therefore, the CLL working group of the Dutch-Belgium Haemato-Oncology Cooperative Group for Adults in the Netherlands (HOVON) necessitated revising the Dutch CLL guidelines. The current guideline is based on the expert opinion of the HOVON CLL working group members and focusses on well-designed clinical trials taking into account efficacy with special emphasis on toxicity, treatment duration and treatment intensity. This article provides recommendations on diagnosis, treatment strategies in front-line and relapsed setting and provides supportive care measurements during novel-based therapies as well as for infectious CLL-related complications. The recommendations presented here are intended to provide guidance for the management of CLL patients in the Netherlands, and take into account the availability of treatment strategies at the time of this publication