title: Community-acquired pneumonia in adults: Highlighting missed opportunities for vaccination.
abstract: Pneumococcal pneumonia remains a clear unmet medical need for adults worldwide. Despite advances in vaccine technology, vaccination coverage remains low, putting many people at risk of significant morbidity and mortality. The herd effect seen with paediatric vaccination is not enough to protect all older and vulnerable people in the community, and more needs to be done to increase the uptake of pneumococcal vaccination in adults. Several key groups are at increased risk of contracting pneumococcal pneumonia, and eligible patients are being missed in clinical practice. At present, community-acquired pneumonia costs over €10 billion annually in Europe alone. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccination could translate into preventing 200,000 cases of community-acquired pneumonia every year in Europe alone. This group calls on governments and decision makers to implement consistent age-based vaccination strategies, and for healthcare professionals in daily clinical practice to identify eligible patients who would benefit from vaccination strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, IRCCS Fondazione Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.blasi@unimi.it.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Blasi
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Department, Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akova
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bonanni
authors.affiliation: Pfizer Vaccines Europe, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dartois
authors.affiliation: Pfizer Europe, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sauty
authors.affiliation: Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research, Maidenhead, UK.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Webber
authors.affiliation: Pulmonology Department, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS. CIBERES, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Torres
mesh_terms: D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000453:epidemiology; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D004608:Eligibility Determination; D005060:Europe; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D007153:Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes / Q000453:epidemiology; D007326:Institutionalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D018579:Patient Selection; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D013156:Splenectomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines
keywords: Adult; Community-acquired pneumonia; Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine; Streptococcus pneumoniae