Use of pneumococcal vaccine in children

A 14-type pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine has been licensed for use in the United States (Pneumovax, Merck & Co., Inc.). Although there are more than 80 immunologically distinct capsular types of pneumococci, the strains incorporated into the vaccine have been responsible for approximately 80% of the cases of serious pneumococcal disease in the United States in recent years. The vaccine should be of value for selected children at risk for severe or life-threatening disease due to the pneumococcus. Pneumococcal vaccines have been used since the turn of the century. In 1914, Sir Almroth Wright* and colleagues reported favorable results of a whole cell vaccine administered to gold miners in South Africa.1