[Correspondence] Reassessing the 1  + 1 pneumococcal conjugate vaccine schedule – Authors' reply

Stephanie Perniciaro and Mark Van der Linden, and Raul Isturiz and colleagues, are concerned that the post-booster endpoint in our 1  + 1 pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) 13 immunogenicity study1 is a poor indicator of direct protection during the first year of life. We agree, but the rationale for a 1 + 1 vaccine schedule is the maintenance of indirect protection through herd immunity, generated by sustained high cov erage in the UK, first with PCV7 then with PCV13. Only 23 cases of PCV13-type invasive pneumococcal disease were identified in infants aged 2 years and younger in England and Wales in 2016–17,2 most of which were attributable to Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3, against which PCV13 does not pro vide either direct or indirect protection.
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research