UK
Older people to be offered Jab
By Department of Health, UK
Apr 6, 2005, 13:02

Everybody aged 65 and over will be offered a routine jab to help protect them against pneumococcal infection which can cause serious diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia announced the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson today.

Older people are at a higher risk from pneumoccocal pneumonia with around two in every one thousand adults aged over 65 admitted to hospital each year. Immunisation with pneumoccocal vaccine helps protect against the disease and has been used successfully in the UK for more than ten years.

Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson said:

"Pneumoccocal infection can cause serious diseases such as pneumonia, septicaemia and meningitis. Everybody is at risk but the older you are the greater the risk of contracting this sort of illness. We already successfully vaccinate at-risk groups such as those with heart conditions, chronic lung disease and chronic liver disease. We now need to make sure that older people are also protected and that's why we are offering the jab to everybody aged 65 and over.

Patients can be vaccinated at any time during the year and doctors will be inviting patients in for their jab from April ".

Most people will only need to have the vaccine once although a second dose may be needed for those patients with certain medical conditions such as a damaged spleen or no spleen and kidney problems.

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