Pneumonia Vaccine PCV-20 single shot now recommended

[lankisterguy]

The USA CDC has changed policy and now recommends a single pneumonia shot for Adults 65 years old and older & Adults 19 through 64 years old with certain underlying medical conditions or other risk factors. ( Leukemia* ; Lymphoma* ; * Considered an immunocompromising condition).

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See cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/pneumo... for the chart

and cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/... to read the bureaucratic machinations that led to this change.

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In the USA most major pharmacies have the PCV-20 available without a prescription and can often be obtained on demand (or scheduled online) and no cost.

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Len

[Elle_V]

I'm making my appointment right now. Thanks for the reminder!

[PaulaS Volunteer]

Thanks so much for this, Len.

I will incorporate the new information into my pinned Vaccinations post. healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo... It will mean rewriting and reposting the whole post, but it was time for that anyway.

However, I'm aware that this is a USA policy and in other countries, PCV- 20 is not yet available. Sadly in the UK we often still have to push to get the PCV-13 (Prevnar 13).

Thanks again,

Paula

[jijic in reply to PaulaS]

Ahh that's good to know. I've not been able to get any pneumonia vax except Pneumovax in Germany.

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

Hi Walkingtall62,

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2 years ago the PCV-20 was not available, so you likely had PPSV-23 and PCV-13 see nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinati...

And as PaulaS says above the PCV-20 is not available yet today in UK, and even getting the PCV-13 takes an alert and current GP.

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Whether you need further vaccinations or when would be up to your medical team

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Len

[Walkingtall62 in reply to lankisterguy]

whoops. Apologies thought it was the 20 and all I can see now on the doctors notes is pneumococcal, with no further reference. Thanks for pointing this out

[PaulaS Volunteer]

Hi, Walkingtall,

It's great that you managed to get Prevnar 20 two years ago, in the UK!

From what I can see, you don't need any more doses. According to the CDC chart, after one dose of PVC20, pneumococcal vaccinations are complete!

Those who have only had PCV15 (or presumably PCV13 as given in the UK), might benefit from further jabs. I'm still trying to get my brain around this, as to whether the CDC chart says extra jabs would be Pneumovax 23(PPSV23) or PVC20.

Paula

P.S. I have now seen Len's reply to you, and realise I may have misunderstood about you getting Prevnar 20, two years ago. It does seem more likely that you had the jabs Len mentioned. As he says, I think you need to check with your doctors re what you actually had, and what extras you might need.

[Walkingtall62 in reply to PaulaS]

you will be surprised what I can do!! But apologies if I got the numbers confused! But will check with doctors as important. Best wishes

[jijic]

Thank you for this - I had PPSV23 and am being told (in Germany) that that's all I need. Any tips on navigating that?

[lankisterguy Volunteer in reply to jijic]

Hi jijic,

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In many countries the PCV-13 is used for children, but the USA and others had exceptions for immune compromised, and even then we CLL patients had to negotiate with our doctors to read the government recommendations. From a brief search it seems that Germany does not recommend any beyond the PPSV-23 for immune compromised.

journals.plos.org/plosone/a...

But this article seems to indicate some problems : academic.oup.com/cid/advanc...

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Whether a GP in Germany would consider varying from the guidelines, and using a "pediatric" PCV-13 for immune compromised and even find some PCV-20 somewhere, I don't know.

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Len

[jijic in reply to lankisterguy]

Thank you for this! I'll see about getting the PCV-20 when I'm visiting the US; it doesn't seem likely that I'd be able to find it here.

[Panz]

My husband and I received the 20 the middle of July of this year. Thanks for addressing this.

Panz 🙏💕🙂☘️🌈👍

[Pin57]

Len - Thanks for posting this important information.

Question… reading the CDC guidelines, having gotten both the PCV13 shot and 3 months later the PPSV23 shot (both within the past 12 months time), it looks looks like I’m done with getting pneumonia vaccines (for now) since CDC does NOT recommend getting the new PVC20 one shot for those that got the noted two (13&23) pneumonia shots.

Did I read the guidelines right?

[lankisterguy Volunteer in reply to Pin57]

Hi Pin57,

That's pretty much what I read also.

If you read through this dense logic,

cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/...

you may see something different, but it looks like economics are the primary focus.

Len

[Pin57 in reply to lankisterguy]

Now that my head is spinning from reading the lengthy technical article (thanks for sending it!) … an important summary note near the end applies for my 13&23 case…

“Findings from studies suggested that the immunogenicity and safety of PCV20 alone or PCV15 in series with PPSV23 were comparable to PCV13 alone or PCV13 in series with PPSV23.”

So us 13&23ers are comparably covered like those that will get the 20. Check, good news.

The article notes the simplicity of the new one shot “20” will help those who wonder… do I get the 13, or 15, and/or the 23 in the past? A good move towards simplicity (most of us like keeping things “simple”) and as you noted economics is likely the driver behind it. Isn’t that typically the “real reason”? Lol.

Pneumonia vaccine shots, IMO, may be THE most important of em all, n not to downplay the important covid vaccines (I have 5 of those, gonna get #6 in November). Learned from this forum pneumonia is potentially one of the biggest killer virus out there and glad we are fortunate to have available to us such vaccines to help fend off that virus.

Thanks again for posting this important info Len.

[beanlake14]

If I’ve had the prev 13, do I need to get the 20 also?

[lankisterguy Volunteer in reply to beanlake14]

Hi beanlake14

I prefer to punt on this, and suggest you ask your Hematologist.

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IMO -If the Prevnar-13 was recent then a PPSV-23 might work OK. If it has been many years and you have had Rituxan or Gazyva since, then you may want to consider starting over with PCV=20

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Len

[beanlake14 in reply to lankisterguy]

had both! Thank you