Invasive pneumococcal disease among the elderly in the later era of paediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccination—A longitudinal study over 10 years based on public surveillance data in the Nordics

Abstract

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) have proven effective in preventing both noninvasive and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in small children and in older age groups. However, long-term observations and country comparisons of IPD incidence in the elderly following introduction of PCVs in paediatric national immunisation programmes (NIPs) are scarce. We aimed to estimate and compare incidence of IPD in the elderly in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden over a 10-year time span. During the study period Denmark and Norway used PCV13 in their paediatric NIP, Sweden both PCV10 and PCV13 and Finland used PCV10. Uptake of pneumococcal vaccines for the elderly was low.