Prevnar 13 Uses

Prevnar is approved to prevent conditions ranging from bacterial meningitis to pneumonia to ear infections. This vaccine was developed specifically to allow a better response from the young immune systems of infants and toddlers. It is typically given to children as young as six weeks old, up until the sixth birthday. The vaccine is also approved for use in adults over the age of 50.

Prevnar 13 Vaccine Information

What Is Prevnar 13 Used For?

Prevnar 13^® (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) is a routine childhood vaccination used to prevent pneumococcal disease, including serious pneumococcal diseases as well as ear infections. Ideally, it is used in infants and toddlers, although it can also be used in older children who did not receive the vaccine on schedule.

Prevnar 13, which provides protection against 13 types of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, is an improvement over the previous Prevnar vaccine, which provided protection against only 7 types of the bacteria.

This product is approved for use in children six weeks old up through five years of age, before the sixth birthday. It can (and should) be used to complete the vaccine series for children who have not yet completed the older Prevnar series. However, even children who previously completed their entire Prevnar series should get one dose of this new vaccine to benefit from the added protection.

Prevnar 13 has also been approved to prevent pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease in adults age 50 years and older.

Using Prevnar 13 for IPD

The most important use for Prevnar 13 is to help prevent invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), a group of serious infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria. IPD diseases include:

Bacterial meningitis (S. pneumoniae is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in the United States)
Bacteremia (a bloodstream infection)
Pneumonia.

IPD causes about 200 deaths per year among children under the age of five years old in the United States.

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