Also Noted

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of different vaccination schedules for the seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. During the shortage of this vaccine in the US, large numbers of children received fewer than the three-shot primary series, and many did not receive the booster dose. Using a case-control design, these authors were able to show that the effectiveness of the vaccine against one or more serotypes among children who had received one or more doses of the vaccine was 96% for healthy children and 81% for children with underlying chronic conditions. They also documented that three doses plus the booster was more effective than the three primary doses alone (P = .032).