The risks to serious diseases can be reduced by vaccine against pneumococcal infections

According to a study published in PLOS Medicine, the pneumococcal vaccine can significantly decrease risks to serious infections that might be caused by this bacterium. The results of this study, led by Daniel Feikin, Matthew Moore, and their colleagues from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA, are important as they suggest rapid and sustained reductions in pneumococcal disease after vaccine introduction. Because the surveillance data used in this study mainly came from high-income countries, these findings may not be generalizable to low-income countries, in which pneumococcal disease is a major problem. The authors say: “The most important public health implication of our analysis was that decreases in overall IPD rates in children -- the group targeted for PCV7 vaccination -- occurred quickly and were sustained after vaccine introduction despite increases in [non-vaccine serotype] rates”. They continue: “Optimizing surveillance data that allows for valid interpretations of the vaccine effect on disease is essential for sound policy decisions”.