U.S. Hospitalizations for Pneumonia after a Decade of Pneumococcal Vaccination

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 369; no. 2; pp. 155 - 163
• Main Authors: Griffin, Marie R, Zhu, Yuwei, Moore, Matthew R, Whitney, Cynthia G, Grijalva, Carlos G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Waltham, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 11.07.2013
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Bacterial diseases; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Confidence intervals; Diagnosis; Disease; Empyema; General aspects; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Immunization; Infant; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Meningitis; Middle Aged; Pneumococcal Vaccines; Pneumonia; Pneumonia - epidemiology; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Sepsis; Serotypes; Staphylococcal infections, streptococcal infections, pneumococcal infections; Streptococcus infections; United States - epidemiology; Vaccination; Vaccines; Young Adult; United States; United States > US; Lung disease; Pneumonia; Respiratory disease; Vaccination; Hospitalization; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Infection; Medicine; Prevention; Streptococcaceae; Immunoprophylaxis; Streptococcal infection; Bacteriosis; Bacteria; Micrococcales; Pneumococcal infection
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1209165

Pneumococcal vaccination has been associated with declines in pneumonia in both vaccinated and unvaccinated persons. In this study, U.S. hospitalizations for pneumonia were assessed before and after the initiation of the 7-valent pneumococcal vaccination program in children. The introduction of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) into the U.S. infant immunization schedule in 2000 resulted in major reductions in the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in all age groups. 1 , 2 The marked decline in disease among unvaccinated persons in addition to those who were vaccinated is attributable to the indirect, or “herd,” protection provided by PCV7. By preventing the acquisition and carriage of vaccine serotypes in the nasopharynx of vaccinated children, PCV7 interfered with this key step in the pathogenesis of pneumococcal disease and reduced the transmission of vaccine serotypes. 3 – 6 Pneumococcal pneumonia accounts for 20 to . . .