KEYWORDS:
pneumococcal Vaccine, Adult, Vaccination

BACKGROUND:
Pneumococcal disease causes over 6000 deaths among adults in the United States annually. A single dose of the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) is 50%-65% effective in preventing invasive disease in persons aged °Ý65 years or older and for persons 2-64 years with chronic conditions. Healthy People 2000 called for °Ý60% vaccine coverage in non-institutionalized, high risk populations.

OBJECTIVE(S):
Describe national PPV levels in 1999.

METHOD(S):
Self-reports of PPV from the 1999 National Health Interview Survey were weighted to reflect the U.S. non-institutionalized populations and analyzed. Persons aged 18-64 years considered at high risk for complications from pneumococcal infection included those reporting chronic bronchitis, emphysema, heart disease, diabetes, weak or failing kidneys, liver diseases or selected cancers

RESULT(S):
Pneumococcal vaccination coverage among persons aged °Ý65 years was 49.7%[48.1-51.3%] in 1999 and 46.0% in 1998. PPV coverage was lower among non-Hispanic blacks (32.6% [28.2-37.0%]) and Hispanics (27.9% [22.5-33.2%]) compared to non-Hispanic whites (53.1%[51.4-54.9%]). Among persons aged 18-64 years, those with high risk conditions were more likely to be vaccinated than those without a high risk condition (16.8% vs. 5.7%).

CONCLUSIONS(S):
By 1999 PPV levels were 10.3 and 43.2 percentage points below the Healthy 2000 objectives among persons aged °Ý65 years and persons aged 18-64 years with chronic conditions, respectively. Additional effort is needed to reach the national 2010 targets of 90% for persons aged °Ý65 years, and 60% for adults aged 18-64 years with high risk conditions.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Identify target populations where improvement is needed to achieve national year 2010 objectives for PPV coverage among adults.