MenACWY vaccine

The MenACWY vaccine is a quadrivalent conjugate vaccine designed to provide active immunity against invasive meningococcal disease caused by *Neisseria meningitidis* serogroups A, C, W-135, and Y. It consists of capsular polysaccharides from these four serogroups, each chemically conjugated to a carrier protein (such as CRM197 or tetanus toxoid) to enhance the immune response, particularly in infants and young children. In the context of the University of Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials (e.g., COV001 and COV002 for ChAdOx1 nCoV-19), the MenACWY vaccine was utilized as an active control. This choice was made to maintain participant blinding; because the MenACWY vaccine typically induces local and systemic reactions (such as injection site pain, fever, or headache) similar to those expected from the viral vector COVID-19 vaccine, participants were less likely to discern whether they had received the experimental vaccine or the control.

Brand names

NimenrixMenveoMenactra

Other names

MenACWY vaccine-University of Oxford-COVID-19Quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccineMeningococcal Group A, C, W-135 and Y conjugate vaccine