A new pneumonia vaccine used in the U.S. beginning in 2000 has prevented 168,000 hospitalizations for the disease, according to Reuters.
People age 85 and older have seen the most beneficial protection from the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which has prevented 73,000 hospitalizations per year.
The study findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"This is only the hospitalizations," lead author Dr. Marie Griffin of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, told Reuters. "This is only one piece of what this vaccine is doing. It's also preventing ear infections and outpatient visits. It's really an amazing vaccine."
According to Reuters, hospitalization rates have declined after the seven-strain vaccine was added to U.S. immunization schedules.
"The worry was that the (strains) not included in the vaccine may actually take over and that didn't happen, so this was good news," Dr. Paul Goepfert, director of the Vaccine Research Clinic at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told Reuters.
Griffin, who was not involved in the study, and her colleagues also found a decrease in time for hospital treatments of pneumonia in all age groups.
"Pneumonia accounted for just over four percent of all U.S. hospitalizations that didn't involve childbirth before the original seven-strain vaccine was introduced," Reuters reports.
Griffin added researchers saw a reduction in elderly hospitalization rates "despite the fact that children are the only group who are routinely vaccinated against pneumonia."
"This was a very nice demonstration of herd immunity," Goepfert said. "It's neat that a vaccine in kids can protect adults."
The study findings reveal more evidence that doctors can reassure parents who may be reluctant to get their kids vaccinated.
"The clinician can say, 'This is not only helping your child, it's helping the adults around your child,'" Goepfert said.
To read the full Reuters report, click here.
