An Introduction to Prevnar 13 Side Effects
As with all vaccines, side effects are possible with
Prevnar 13® (
pneumococcal conjugate vaccine). However, not everyone who receives the vaccination will have problems. In fact, most children tolerate it quite well. If side effects do occur, in most cases, they are minor and either require no treatment or are treated easily by you or your healthcare provider.
(This article covers many, but not all, of the possible side effects with Prevnar 13. Your healthcare provider can discuss a more complete list with you.)
Common Side Effects of Prevnar 13 in Children
Prevnar 13 has been studied thoroughly in clinical trials. In these studies in children, Prevnar 13 was compared to the older version of the vaccine (Prevnar). This way, it was possible to compare the side effects that occurred with the two products.
In these studies, the most common Prevnar 13 side effects included:
- Irritability -- in up to 85.6 percent of children
- Sleeping more than usual -- up to 71.5 percent
- Tenderness at the injection site -- up to 64.7 percent
- Decreased appetite -- up to 51 percent
- Sleeping less than usual -- up to 45.6 percent
- Redness at the injection site -- up to 42.3 percent
- Fever -- up to 36.5 percent
- Swelling at the injection site -- up to 31.6 percent.
Care must be taken when interpreting this data, however, since Prevnar 13 was often given along with other vaccines. For instance, it may not be accurate to say that Prevnar 13 caused irritability in 85.6 percent of children, since the irritability may have been at least partially due to the other vaccines that were given at the same time.
Injection site reactions (such as redness, swelling, and tenderness) are generally more likely to occur in older children and are, therefore, more likely to occur when children receive this vaccine on a "catch-up" schedule, since they are older then usual when receiving the vaccine.
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