Older People to be Offered Jab Against Pneumococcal Infection, UK

Main Category: Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 05 Apr 2005 - 10:00 PDT

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Everybody aged 65 and over will be offered a routine jab to help protect them against pneumococcal infection which can cause serious diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia announced the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson today.

Older people are at a higher risk from pneumoccocal pneumonia with around two in every one thousand adults aged over 65 admitted to hospital each year. Immunisation with pneumoccocal vaccine helps protect against the disease and has been used successfully in the U.K for more than ten years.

Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson said:

"Pneumoccocal infection can cause serious diseases such as pneumonia, septicaemia and meningitis. Everybody is at risk but the older you are the greater the risk of contracting this sort of illness. We already successfully vaccinate at-risk groups such as those with heart conditions, chronic lung disease and chronic liver disease. We now need to make sure that older people are also protected and that's why we are offering the jab to everybody aged 65 and over.

Patients can be vaccinated at any time during the year and doctors will be inviting patients in for their jab from April ".

Most people will only need to have the vaccine once although a second dose may be needed for those patients with certain medical conditions such as a damaged spleen or no spleen and kidney problems.

1. The new pneumococcal immunisation programme for older people was announced in August 2003 and has been phased in over three years. People aged 80 and over were offered the vaccine in 2003/04 and people aged 75 and over were offered the vaccine in 2004/05. Pneumoccoca

2. The symptoms of pneumoccocal infection of the lungs are:

a high fever
coughing
shaking chills
breathlessness
chest pains and
confusion

The symptoms of pneumoccocal meningitis are:

a severe headache
a stiff neck
a high fever
confusion and
being sensitive to light

Patients should contact their doctor if any of these symptoms is a cause for concern.

3. Primary Care Trusts will receive financial support for the running of the pneumoccocal programme. The Department aims to make payments to Primary Care Trusts by 31 April 2005.

4. For individuals aged five years and above, including those aged 65 years and over, a single dose of 23-valence pneumoccocal polysaccaharide vaccine is recommended.

5. Information on immunisation can be found at http://www.immunisation.nhs.uk.

GNNREF: 114007
Issued by : DOH Press Office

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