Pneumococcal vaccination – The numbers' game?

The Millenium Development Goal 4 aims at decreasing the under-5 mortality by 2/3 by the year 2015. According to WHO reports, five out of the six major causes of mortality are due to infections and pneumococcal disease continues to be a major etiological agent. The variability of disease causing serotypes in different regions, calls for the necessity of local regional data on disease causatives. Several ongoing studies have shown variable results regarding causative serotypes. The available conjugate vaccines provide protection against various common serotypes and are excellent tools for combating pneumococcal disease. This paper attempts to provide a clearer picture of the serotype prevalence, which will aid, besides other reasons, in individual decisions on vaccine selection and hence enhance vaccine coverage against invasive pneumococcal disease.