Guidance

Pneumococcal vaccination: guidance for health professionals

Information for healthcare practitioners on the changes to the infant pneumococcal vaccination schedule.

• From: Public Health England
• Published: 13 December 2019
• Last updated: 23 July 2020 — See all updates

Documents

Pneumococcal vaccination: guidance for HCWs on the changes to the infant schedule

Ref: PHE gateway number 2019204

PDF, 404 KB, 10 pages

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Details

The UK pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) immunisation programme has successfully achieved high levels of population (herd) protection for all age groups.

Currently, circulation of the 13 pneumococcal serotypes contained in the vaccine, and therefore, the risk of disease due to these serotypes, even in those at higher risk, is very low in the UK.

The PCV13 immunisation schedule has therefore been changed as follows:

• infants born on or after 1 January 2020 should be offered a single dose of PCV13 alongside their routine DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB and rotavirus immunisations at 12 weeks of age, followed by a PCV13 booster at one year of age (on or after their first birthday). This will be referred to as the 1+1 PCV13 schedule

• infants born on or before 31 December 2019 will continue to receive two doses of PCV13 vaccine alongside their routine immunisations at 8 and 16 weeks of age, followed by a PCV13 booster at one year of age (on or after their first birthday). This will be referred to as the 2+1 PCV13 schedule

The one-year booster dose should be given regardless of the number of doses given under one year of age.

Published 13 December 2019
Last updated 23 July 2020 + show all updates

1. 23 July 2020

   Revised guidance and a reminder about the one-year booster dose.

2. 13 December 2019

   First published.