Pneumonia - Resources

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory CIouncil recommends that all people ages 6 months and older, unless contraindicated, get a flu shot for the 2010 - 2011 flu season. These universal recommendations simplify earlier recommendations for specific high risk groups.

Older children and adults require only a single shot each year. However, children under age 9 may need two shots given 1 month apart the first time they receive the flu vaccine, or if they have not previously received two doses during a flu season.

Some people have a higher risk of the disease.

If supplies are limited, people in high risk groups, such as the following, should get a flu vaccine first:

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• Young children
• Children over age 5 who have a higher risk for serious illness
• Household contacts, caregivers, or healthcare providers of children or adults with high-risk conditions
• Pregnant women (breastfeeding women may also receive the vaccine)
• People in long term care facilities
• People who have chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart, lung or blood diseases
• People who receive long term treatment with steroids for any condition

Pneumococcal Vaccines

The pneumococcal vaccine protects against S. pneumoniae bacteria, the most common cause of respiratory infections. There are two effective vaccines available:

• 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine (Pneumovax, Pnu-Immune) for adults
• 13-valent conjugate vaccine (Prevnar or PCV13) for infants and young children

Experts are now recommending that more people, including healthy elderly people, be given the pneumococcal vaccine, particularly in light of the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Click the icon to see an image of pneumococcal pneumonia.

Pneumococcal Vaccine in Young Children. The FDA recently approved the pneumococcal vaccine (Prevnar 13 or PCV13) for children six weeks to five years old for the prevention of pneumonia. It covers 13 types of pneumonia and replaces its earlier version PCV 7. Routine vaccination with the PCV7 vaccine began in 2000. The vaccine cut the rate of infant hospitalizations for pneumonia by a third between 1997 - 1999 and 2006. Possibly due to "herd immunity," pneumonia-related hospital admissions in adults ages 18 - 39 also dropped by more than 25%.