How is pneumococcal vaccine administered?

Persons vaccinated prior to age 65 should be vaccinated at age 65 if five or more years have passed since the first dose. For people with lack of spleen function (such as in sickle cell disease or after spleen removal), transplant patients, patients with chronic kidney disease, immunosuppressed or immunodeficient persons, and others at highest risk of fatal infection, a second dose should be given at least five years after first dose.

What are side effects of pneumococcal vaccine?

Pneumococcal vaccine uncommonly causes side effects. Reported side effects include soreness and/or redness at the site of the injection, fever, rash, and allergic reactions.

What if it is not clear what a person's vaccination history is?

When indicated, vaccine should be administered to patients with unknown vaccination status. All residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities should have their vaccination status assessed and documented.

How long must a person wait to receive other vaccinations?

Inactivated influenza vaccine and tetanus vaccines may be given at the same time as or at any time before or after a dose of pneumococcus vaccine. There are no requirements to wait between the doses of these or any other inactivated vaccines.

Vaccination of children recommended

In July 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the CDC jointly recommended childhood pneumococcal immunization, since pneumococcal infections are the most common invasive bacterial infections in children in the United States, causing about 1,400 cases of meningitis, 17,000 cases of blood stream infections, and 71,000 cases of pneumonia every year in children under age 5.

The new AAP/CDC guidelines stipulated the use of the newest form of the pneumococcal vaccine, the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) and recommended it "for use in all children 23 months of age and younger. Although other pneumococcal vaccines are available, PCV7 represents the first pneumococcal vaccine approved for use in children younger than age 2. The policy recommends that PCV7 be given concurrently with other recommended childhood vaccines at 2, 4, 6, and 12 to 15 months. The number of PCV7 doses required depends upon the age at which vaccination is initiated. The vaccine was also recommended for all children 24 to 59 months of age who are at especially high risk of invasive pneumococcal infection. This includes children with sickle cell disease, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and other children who are immunocompromised."