Pneumococcal immunisation for the over 65s wins a reprieve

摘要

As reported in JIP earlier this year (Green, 2011) the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended to the Department of Health (DH) that routine immunisation of those aged 65 years and over with pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) should cease (JCVI 2011a). This recommendation was made after a review of the available evidence, with the JCVI concluding that the effectiveness of PPV in the over 65s is poor, that protection is short lived and decreases with increasing age, and there has been no decrease in the numbers of cases of invasive pneumococcal disease in this age group following the introduction of the vaccine in 2003. In response the DH advised that immunisation with PPV should continue while they conducted a consultation process with key stakeholders on the future of PPV in the over 65s (Salisbury, 2011).