Vaccines and Preventable Diseases:
Pneumococcal Vaccination
Pronounced (NEU-mo-KOK-al)
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is recommended for all children less than 24 months old and for children between 24 and 59 months old who are at high risk of disease. Older children and adults with risk factors may receive the pneumococcal polysaccaride vaccine,(Pneumovax® and Pnu-Immune®).
What You Should Know:
For Health Professionals:
For the Media:
What You Should Know
- Brief description
Symptoms, treatment, transmission, etc. - Questions and Answers
- About pneumococcal and pneumococcal vaccination UPDATED
Parent's Guide to Childhood Immunization (screen-reader version) - Images of pneumococcus and people affected with pneumococcal disease
Warning: Some of these photos are quite graphic. - Fact Sheets about Pneumococcal disease
- Just for kids
- Global pneumococcal disease
WHO estimates of worldwide cases in developing countries and other useful links
The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, PCV7 or Prevnar®, licensed in late 2000, is the first pneumococcal vaccine that can be used in children under the age of 2 years. However, pneumococcal vaccines for the prevention of disease among children and adults who are 2 years and older have been in use since 1977. Pneumovax® and Pnu-Immune® are 23-valent polysaccharide vaccines (PPV23) that are currently recommended for use in all adults who are older than 65 years of age and for persons who are 2 years and older and at high risk for disease (e.g., sickle cell disease, HIV infection, or other immunocompromising condition.)
- As an adult, do I need this vaccine?
(19 years and older) - Side Effects of PCV and PPV
- Precautions, side-effects, and combination vaccines
Parents Guide to Immunizations (screen-reader version) - Vaccine Information Statement (VIS)
- Questions and Answers
- Important facts for parents about PCV vaccine (exit)
- FAQ about PPV vaccine for adults (exit)
- Are You protected? (exit)
- Pneumo. conjugate (PCV7) vaccine mandates for children in day care (exit)
- Pneumococcal vaccines in developing countries
PCV-7 recommendations, advance market commitment, vaccine support resources, literature, etc.
As with all vaccines, there can be minor reactions, including pain and redness at the injection site, headache, fatigue or a vague feeling of discomfort.
- Are
vaccines safe? (exit)
FAQs on The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia website - CDC's Vaccine Safety website
- Hot
Topics (exit)
Vaccine safety topics on The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia website - Lessening the Pain of Vaccines (exit)
Techniques worth trying
- What if we stopped vaccinating for this disease?
- Who should not be vaccinated with Pneumococcal vaccine?
- Pregnancy guidelines
For Health Professionals
Clinical Information
- Pink Book's chapter on Pneumococcal
Epidemiology & Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases textbook - Ask the Experts about PCV7 (exit)
CDC experts (medial officers, medical epidemiologists, etc.) - Ask the Experts about PPV23 (exit)
CDC experts (medial officers, medical epidemiologists, etc.) - NIPINFO answers your questions about Pneumococcal
- Proper handling of PCV and PPV vaccines
Recommendations
- ACIP vaccine-specific recommendations
- General recommendations on immunization (exit)
- Standing Orders (exit)
- Contraindications
- ACIP - Vaccines for Children (VFC) Resolution
References and Resources
- MMWRs on PCV and PPV
- PCV7 related articles
- Pink Book's chapter on Pneumococcal Disease
Epidemiology & Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases textbook - Surveillance:
- Surveillance manual's chapter on Pneumococcal Disease
Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases textbook - Active Bacterial Core surveillance
- Surveillance manual's chapter on Pneumococcal Disease
- Laboratory:
- CDC Streptococcal Laboratory
Scheme for identifying pneumococcal serotypes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). - CDC's Pneumococcal Clone Identification
Laboratories that conduct pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) can use this info to identify...
- CDC Streptococcal Laboratory
- Global pneumococcal disease and vaccines
- Travelers Health: Yellow Book
- Influenza and pneumococcal (PPV23) mandates for long term care facilities (exit)
Provider Education
- Clinical
education slide set
from the "Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases" course - Pneumococcal
Polysaccharide
Vaccination Pocket Guide (exit)
Intended to be a provider's partner to help with pneumococcal vaccination - Podcasts on immunization topics
- Recommended childhood immunization schedule
Materials for Patients
- Questions about the pneumococcal shot brochure
- Ask your doctor about pneumococcal shot card
- Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) (PCV7 and PPV23)
- Important facts for patients to know about PPV (exit)
- Stories of people who suffered or died from vaccine-preventable diseases (exit)
- PPV: Questions and Answers (exit)
Ready-to-print versions of one of the CDC-reviewed Q&A material located on IAC's Vaccine Information website (www.vaccineinformation.org) Dated 5/07
For the Media
- CDC Says Immunizations Reduce Deaths From Influenza and Pneumococcal
Disease Among Older Adults ( 114 KB/10 pages) posted June 2008
(text-only version 27 KB) - Resources for media (exit)
- Background information on pneumococcal disease and vaccines for media (exit)
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Content last reviewed on September 5, 2007
Content Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases