Faculty

Olakunle Oladehin

Getting the Full Picture of Pneumococcal Vaccination

There are over 100 known serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae however only a minority of these serotypes cause the vast majority of the pneumococcal infections worldwide. Theserotypes that cause disease may be different from one country to another however pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have had a significant impact in reducing the overall burden of pneumococcal disease globally. The effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines should not be solely predicted based on its serotype content but on the net reduction of the burden of pneumococcal disease after its implementation. This net reduction is the sum of the vaccine type effectiveness (which is the serotypes included in the vaccine) and the cross protection, less by the replacement disease based on the natural history of disease progression. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines help to protect against pneumonia, severe and life threatening invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and the least life threatening but most frequently seen acute otitis media. It is estimated that almost 80% of children will have at least one episode of acute otitis media by the age of 3. Prevention through vaccination is key to reduce the direct and indirect costs of acute otitis media, pneumonia, and IPD. Paediatricians continue to play a pivotal role in advocating timely and complete vaccinations to help reduce the burden pneumococcal diseases.

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