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PCV7 remains effective against childhood pneumonia
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Pneumococcoal conjugate vaccine continues to decrease rates of childhood pneumonia six years after licensure.
The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7; Prevenar, Wyeth) has had a rapid, sustained effect on the rate of pneumonia hospitalizations among U.S. children in the six years since the vaccine was licensed.
Vanderbilt University and CDC researchers derived data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database during 1997-2006. Data for 2005 indicated that 74,559 U.S. children aged younger than 2 years were hospitalized for all-cause pneumonia and 67,430 were hospitalized in 2006; this accounted for nearly 8% of yearly nonbirth-related hospitalizations among this age group.
The rates for all-cause pneumonia hospitalizations per 1,000 children aged younger than 2 years during 2005 was 9.1 and 8.1 during 2006. Both 2005 and 2006 rates were 27% and 35% lower than the baseline rate (12.5 per 1,000).
In addition, the rate reduction for 2006 indicated approximately 36,300 fewer pneumonia hospitalizations among children aged younger than 2 years during 2006 when compared with the average annual number of hospitalizations during 1997-1999.
According to the researchers, the rate for all-cause pneumonia hospitalization did not change significantly during the study years for children aged 2 to 4 years.
MMWR. 2009;58:1-4.
Previous studies have documented the substantial impact of vaccinating children with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on reducing invasive pneumococcal disease in children and adults. This new study suggests that pneumococcal infections had accounted for a substantial proportion of all-cause pneumonia in children aged younger than 2 years, and that pneumococcal vaccination has significantly reduced that burden. In fact, there is a suggestion that in 2006, pneumococcal vaccination also reduced nonpneumonia acute respiratory illness hospitalizations, preventing an estimated 51,500 such hospitalizations. The new CDC study reinforces the need to continue to vaccinate with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine all children for whom the vaccine is recommended, both for their own benefit and for society at large.
– Walter Orenstein, MD
Infectious Diseases in Children Editorial Board member