The shots on your child's vaccine schedule all play an important role in protecting your little one from preventable illness. One of them — pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) — targets a common and sometimes serious type of bacterial infection. Read on for more about what it does and how it works.
What is pneumococcal disease?
Pneumococcal disease is any type of infection caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria. It's a common cause of ear infections, pneumonia and bloodstream infections. It's also the top cause of bacterial meningitis among older kids in the United States.
Invasive pneumococcal infections, like meningitis and bloodstream infections, can lead to death in some children. It is spread through person-to-person contact and is most common during winter and early spring.
What is PCV13?
The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is an inactivated (killed) vaccine made from the sugar coatings of pneumococcal bacteria. It gives immunity to the 13 different strains of pneumococcal bacteria that cause the most serious infections in children.
Four doses of PCV13 are recommended. They're given at:
- 2 months old
- 4 months old
- 6 months old
- Between 12 and 15 months old
If your child misses a shot or starts the PCV13 series later, he should still get the vaccine. Your pediatrician will recommend the right number of doses and the intervals between them depending on his age.
Why is the pneumococcal vaccine important?
Before the vaccine was available, there were about 700 cases of meningitis, 13,000 bloodstream infections and 200 deaths from pneumococcal disease each year among children younger than 5 years old. After kids started routinely getting this vaccine, these numbers dropped quickly.
Learn more about childhood immunizations.
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