Study shows decrease in pneumonia rate since pediatric approval of vaccine

ATLANTA According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since the PCV7 vaccine for pneumococcal bacteria was approved for children aged 5 and under in 2000, rates for invasive pneumococcal disease in all age groups have decreased significantly.

“This vaccine is continuing to provide a very substantial public health impact 6 years after its introduction. We estimate that between 2001 and 2006, 170,000 cases and 9,800 deaths were prevented as a result of this vaccine,” says Matthew Moore of the CDC, a lead researcher on the study. The CDC has been tracking the incidence of IPD, the most severe form of the disease – defined as meningitis or a bloodstream infection, which can include some cases of pneumonia – since the introduction of the vaccine.

The researchers found a significant decline in IPD rates for all age groups (78 percent decrease in children under 5 years; a 38 percent decrease in children and adolescents aged 5-17 years; a 39 percent decrease in adults aged 18-49 years; a 14 percent in people aged 50-64 years; a 32 percent decrease in adults 65-79 years; and a 42 percent in adults 80 years and older) with even greater declines in IPD caused by those strains included in the PCV7 vaccine.

The drug has an effect on so many age groups because of the spread of the bacteria from children to others.