Since Vaccine, Pneumonia Admissions Drop

Hospital stays for pneumonia have dropped 10% in the decade since a pneumonia vaccine was introduced, a new study finds. The declines were even sharper among very young children and the elderly. These are the main target groups for the PCV7 vaccine. It protects against 7 strains of pneumococcal bacteria. The vaccine was approved in 2000. Researchers looked at hospital stays for 1997 through 1999. They compared these numbers to rates for 2007 through 2009. Annual hospital stays for pneumonia dropped by 168,000. The drop was steepest, 43%, among children under age 2. Among adults age 85 and older, the decrease was 23%. The pneumococcal vaccine is recommended mainly for babies, people age 65 or older and those with impaired immune systems. Hospital stays for pneumonia also fell for children ages 2 to 4 and for adults of all ages.