Vaccines are available to prevent pneumococcal infection and they have been used to great effect, particularly in children. However, currently available vaccines cannot prevent all pneumococcal infections, therefore a significant burden of disease remains particularly in adults.

Adult vaccination
Child vaccination
Immunisation schedule

In the UK, the immunisation programme continues to evolve, meeting the demand to improve the control of infectious diseases through vaccination. Two different types of vaccines are available to protect against pneumococcal infection: pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV).

PPV contains purified capsular polysaccharide from each of 23 serotypes of Pneumococcus. Adults are able to elicit an immune response to this vaccine however, children younger than two years of age show poor antibody responses to immunisation with PPV.

The antibody response in young children can be improved by conjugating, or ‘attaching’ the pneumococcal polysaccharide to carrier proteins such as CRM¹⁹⁷. PCV is known to be immunogenic in children from two months of age.

Type of vaccine	Conjugate vaccine		Polysaccharide vaccine
Vaccines available	PCV13 (Prevenar13®)	PCV10 (SynflorixTM)	PPV (Pneumovax)
Pneumococcal Serotypes	13 serotypes	10 serotypes	23 serotypes
Indication	Active immunisation for the prevention of invasive disease, pneumonia and acute otitis media caused by S.pneumoniae in infants and children from 6 weeks to 5 years of age	Active immunisation of infants and children from 6 weeks up to 5 years of age against S.pneumoniae serotypes in the vaccine and invasive disease caused by these serotypes (including sepsis, meningitis, bacteraemic pneumonia, pleural empyema and bacteraemia	Indicated for vaccination against pneumococcal disease caused by those pneumococcal types included in the vaccine Recommended for ≥ 2 years