Flu vaccine FAQs: Pneumonia vaccine can help prevent flu complications

Consumer Reports News: October 28, 2009 06:08 PM

Q: Should I get the pneumonia vaccine in addition to the H1N1 vaccine? And should my 3-year-old get it too?

A: Your child should definitely get the pneumonia vaccine. Whether you need it too depends in part on your age and health status. The pneumonia vaccine immunizes you against pneumococcal pneumonia, the most common form of bacterial pneumonia. Pneumonia can be a serious illness in its own right, but in combination with the flu it has been shown to be especially vicious. That's because your immune system is already weakened by fighting the flu, increasing your susceptibility to the bacteria that cause pneumonia to infect the lungs, and in turn multiplying your risk of flu complications. Infection with both pneumonia and influenza is called a coinfection, and a recent study found it's likely to be an important contributing factor in some of the deaths that have occurred so far from the swine flu.

Two pneumonia vaccines are available. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that all children younger than 5 receive the pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV; Prevnar), given in four doses over roughly a one-year period. (Ideally, kids should get the first dose at 2 months of age.) The other vaccine, called the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV; Pneumovax), is recommended for adults older than 65 and anyone between the ages of 2 and 64 with chronic heart, lung, or liver disease, alcoholism, or impaired immunity. It's given in a single shot, with a five-year booster after age 65 or for very people at very high risk.

Read more about the pneumonia vaccine and how it can help prevent flu complications for more information.

--Kevin McCarthy, associate editor

For more see our flu vaccine safety FAQs, and Who should get the swine flu vaccine?