Invasive pneumococcal disease is presently a leading cause of mortality due to bacterial infectious diseases in French children less than 2 years of age, and only the pneumococcal conjugate vaccines induce a protective immune response for those within this vulnerable age group.
Material and methods: The safety and immunogenicity of a heptavalent pneumococcal polysaccharide conjugate vaccine (PREVENAR was tested in French infants immunized with the 2, 3 and 4 month French schedule as part of an open, randomized, comparative clinical study, in association with a whole-cell pertussis-based pediatric combination vaccine.
Results: In the PREVENAR plus DTP-IPV/Hib association group, 90.6-100% of children achieved a post-dose three threshold IgG concentration of >0.15 microg/ml against each of the seven pneumococcal serotypes. Regarding immunogenicity, no interference with the antibody response to the various antigenic components of the DTP-IPV/Hib vaccine was observed. Local reactions were significantly less frequent at the PREVENAR injection site than at the DTP-IPV/Hib injection site; there was no increase in systemic adverse events in the vaccine association group compared to the DTP-IPV/Hib alone group, further exception of fever >38 degrees C which was more frequently reported in the PREVENAR + PENTACOQ group following the second dose of vaccines (56% vs. 35%); no serious adverse event could be considered to be related to the PREVENAR immunization in this study.
Conclusion: The heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is immunogenic when administered at 2, 3 and 4 months. PREVENAR can be administered simultaneously with the DTP-IPV/Hib combination vaccine.