Pneumococcal vaccine for people over 65
In a trial involving 84,500 seniors, the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine cut cases of pneumonia caused by strains it targets by roughly 46%, and reduced instances of the most severe invasive infections by 75%. However, it showed no effect on pneumonia cases caused by any other pathogens, so it won’t prevent all types of pneumonia. The absolute confidence interval width is 95.2%.
Several hundred yuan. In some regions, it is provided free…
Researchers in the Netherlands randomly assigned 84,500 seniors over 65 to two groups for comparison. They use…
Several hundred yuan. In some regions, it is provided free of charge for seniors.
Researchers in the Netherlands randomly assigned 84,500 seniors over 65 to two groups for comparison. They used the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Its effectiveness against pneumonia caused by strains it targets was 45.6%, with a 95% confidence interval of 21.8–62.5. This figure refers to the specific bacterial strains the vaccine can protect against. For the most dangerous form of pneumococcal disease, the effectiveness was 75.0% (95% CI 41.4–90.8). No protective effect was observed against pneumonia cases caused by any other pathogens.
Bonten MJ, Huijts SM, Bolkenbaas M, et al. (2015). Polysaccharide conjugate vaccine against pneumococcal pneumonia in adults. New England Journal of Medicine, 372(12), 1114-1125. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1408544
Open source linkThis vaccine only protects against the specific bacterial strains it targets; it does not prevent all types of pneumonia. The 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine commonly used for seniors in China is a different formulation from the 13-valent conjugate vaccine used in this trial, so the effectiveness figures here cannot be directly applied to that vaccine.