Kaiser Permanente study finds new pneumococcal vaccine appears to be as safe as previously used vaccine

The new 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) appears to be as safe as the previous version used prior to 2010, the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7), according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in Vaccine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved PCV13 for use beginning in 2010 after a series of trials. These trials found that PCV13, which protects against a broader range of pneumococcal types than the previously used PCV7, did not increase the risk for any serious adverse events related to the vaccine. In a study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente researchers evaluated the electronic medical records of nearly 600,000 children, ages 1 month to 2 years, who received PCV13 over a two-year period. Comparing the number of rare adverse events associated with the PCV13 vaccine to the number of events associated with the previously used PCV7 vaccine, the study authors found...