Ten years of experience with the pneumococcal conjugate 7-valent vaccine in children.

ABSTRACT

In children, pneumococcus became the predominant infectious agent, after the routine use of the Hib conjugate vaccine dramatically decreased Haemophilus Influenzae type b prevalence. The incidence of invasive pneumococcal infections (IPI) and of non-invasive infections due to vaccine serotypes (VS) decreased by 80% in Europe along with a 30-40% decrease in the global incidence of IPI in this age group, after the implementation of Prevenar 7(®) routine immunization in children below 2 years of age. The decrease of IPI due to VS in other age groups was an indirect benefit. The moderate increase of non-vaccinal serotype IPI incidence did not impede the benefit of the overall program. Serotype 19A was the most frequent and carried resistance to antibiotics. Prevenar 13(®), a second-generation vaccine with six new serotypes, replaced Prevenar 7(®) in most countries after 2010, with available evidence of its effectiveness (United Kingdom, US, France).