Increased Incidence of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease among Children after COVID-19 Pandemic, England

T he COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lock- downs, social isolation, and other interventions led to large declines in respiratory infections, including invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) (1,2). In England, IPD cases declined by 30% after the first lockdown in March 2020 and remained low during the subsequent winter until February 2021, when cases increased by 8% above the 3-year prepandemic mean incidence for February (3). As the country ended its third national lockdown in March 2021, after emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant, IPD cases started to gradually increase. By June 2021, case numbers remained 25% lower than prepandemic levels, but we observed a proportionately higher increase in cases among children <15 years of age (3). We describe IPD trends during July-December 2021, after England removed all COVID-19 control measures on July 19, 2021.