In the pediatric population, the smallest infants are the most vulnerable to pneumococcal infections - babies and children up to five years of age. In particular, it is important for them to undergo vaccination, which is voluntary and should be offered by every practical pediatrician.
Pneumococcal vaccines for children up to 11 months are fully covered by the health insurance company, at the cheapest variant of Synflorix. The Prevenar vaccine will be paid approximately 400-500 CZK. The Synflorix vaccine protects against the ten pneumococcal strains, Prevenar, thirteen. In 2014, 74% of children received at least one dose of pneumococcal vaccine in the Czech Republic.
Is it too little or too much?
When comparing the vaccination of children against pneumococci in 2014 with us, for example, with Great Britain, 94.1% of children were vaccinated at the same time. Even in the UK, vaccination against this infection is fully covered and easily available. The default terms are the same. However, British parents' interest in pneumococcal vaccination is clearly greater.
Facts versus presumptions
According to the State Health Institute (SZÚ), it is clear that vaccination, as far as our children are vaccinated, has saved lives and also reduced the consumption of antibiotics, which is very important.
In 2015, according to the NHS data on our territory, no single vaccine failure occurred, two children were killed by the severe pneumococcal infection, both unvaccinated. In society, however, we often hear about the failure of vaccination. This term is, however, practically always mistakenly associated with a non-serious infection by a strain against which it is not vaccinated. The vaccine is developed to protect children from serious infections - primarily from brain inflammation, pneumonia and blood poisoning.
It is also clear from the SIA's information that when there is a decrease in vaccination, there will also be an increase in the number of infections. Since prevention is always easier, cheaper and more comfortable than treatment, we should try to prevent it.
Source: Očkovací kalendář.cz