Pneumococcal Vaccinations Are Studied

Vanderbilt University researchers say infants too young to receive pneumococcal vaccinations still experienced a decrease in the rate of the disease.

Scientists say that decrease possibly occurred because they were less likely to contract it from others who were vaccinated.

The bacteria streptococcus pneumoniae causes diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis and bacteremia in children. A heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, or PCV7, was licensed in 2000 and recommended for all U.S. children aged two to 23 months.

Since the PCV7 introduction, the rate of invasive pneumococcal disease among U.S. children younger than two years has decreased by at least 60 percent. Concurrently, rates of IPD in adults have decreased. Those declines, researchers said, suggest PCV7 vaccination of children aged 2 to 23 months has led to changes in the transmission of pneumococcal disease in both the target and non-target populations.

The research was led by Dr. Katherine Poehling of Vanderbilt’s School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn., to determine the rates of IPD among neonates and young infants before and after PCV7 was incorporated into the childhood immunization schedule in June 2000.

The study is published in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association.