Vaccination of infants against pneumococcal infections (3)

Infants and young children throughout the Netherlands have been vaccinated against pneumococcal infections since 2006. More than six years after the introduction of the pneumococcal vaccination, there has been a drastic reduction in the number of children with invasive pneumococcal disease. In infants and young children, pneumococcal disease caused by any of the seven pneumococcal types targeted by both vaccines used in the Netherlands has virtually disappeared. However, infants and young children are slightly more likely to acquire infections caused by pneumococcal serotypes that are not included in the vaccine. However, the net result (protection without type replacement) has been a sharp decline in invasive pneumococcal disease.