(2013) Afonso, Eliane Terezinha; Minamisava, Ruth; Bierrenbach, Ana Luiza; Escalante, Juan Jose Cortez; Alencar, Airlane Pereira; Domingues, Carla Magda; Morais Neto, Otaliba Libanio; Toscano, Cristiana Maria; Andrade, Ana Lúcia Sampaio Sgambatti de
Pneumonia is most problematic for children in developing
countries. In 2010, Brazil introduced a 10-valent pneumococcal
conjugate vaccine (PCV10) to its National Immunization
Program. To assess the vaccine’s effectiveness for
preventing pneumonia, we analyzed rates of hospitalization
among children 2–24 months of age who had pneumonia
from all causes from January 2005 through August 2011.
We used data from the National Hospitalization Information
System to conduct an interrupted time-series analysis for 5
cities in Brazil that had good data quality and high PCV10
vaccination coverage. Of the 197,975 hospitalizations analyzed,
30% were for pneumonia. Significant declines in hospitalizations
for pneumonia were noted in Belo Horizonte
(28.7%), Curitiba (23.3%), and Recife (27.4%) but not in
São Paulo and Porto Alegre. However, in the latter 2 cities,
vaccination coverage was less than that in the former 3.
Overall, 1 year after introduction of PCV10, hospitalizations
of children for pneumonia were reduced.