THE importance of the government announcement that Prevenar will be included in the UK national childhood immunisation programme is easily overlooked.
This conjugate vaccine, manufactured by Wyeth and available against pneumococcal diseases in children, has been available in this country since 2001, but it has previously been recommended only for children of unusual vulnerability. In the United States this vaccine has been in widespread use since 2000 and has proved not only safe, but also has led to a reduction in one form of pneumococcal infection, that of bacterial meningitis.
Prevenar is also given routinely to children in Australia, the Netherlands, France and much of Canada.
As other forms of meningitis, such as that caused by Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) meningitis, have been conquered, bacterial meningitis in young children from pneumococci has become more important. It now accounts for one in ten cases of meningitis in infants and young children.
The injection will not only protect against meningitis but also against two other problems. Pneumococcus is the bacterium responsible for two thirds of the cases of pneumonia in children under 5 and leads to many recurrent ear infections.
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Adding another injection, and one that is not only safe but also helps to reduce the incidence of meningitis, should be a huge relief to parents.