Preventing pneumonia, IDAI’s Immunization Task Force adds vaccine types and schedules for children

Bisnis.com, JAKARTA – Indonesian Pediatric Association (IDAI) has changed the children’s vaccination schedule this year, and added new types, including pneumococcal conjugate 15-valent (PCV15) to prevent the smallpox.

The reason, based on UNICEF data, is that one child dies of pneumonia every 43 seconds worldwide. This makes pneumonia the leading cause of death in infants and children compared to other infectious diseases.

Globally, 700,000 children under the age of five will die each year from pneumonia or around 2,000 children per day in 2021.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, pneumonia causes 14.5% of deaths in infants and 5% of deaths in children under the age of five (infants).

Pneumonia is inflammation of the lungs that can be caused by bacterial, viral or fungal infections. One of the main causes of this disease is the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae (Pneumococcus), which is also associated with serious illness.

Pneumococcal bacteria themselves can cause other diseases, such as inflammation of the lining of the brain (meningitis), blood infections (bacteremia), and ear inflammation (otitis).

Pediatrician, Dr. Denta explained that the PCV15 vaccine could add protection against serotypes 22F and 33F, which were not present in PCV13 before.

“Thus, the PCV15 vaccine provides more extensive protection against 15 serotypes of pneumococcal bacteria,” he said, announced on Monday (21/10/2024).

At the same time, parents do not need to worry about safety, because PCV15 has been clinically tested and approved by BPOM in June 2023 for use throughout Indonesia.

“With the inclusion of this vaccine in the latest children’s vaccination schedule by IDAI, doctors now have guidelines for recommending pneumococcal vaccines with 15 serotypes of pneumococcal bacteria that cause pneumonia in children to protect Indonesia,” he said.

In the latest vaccination schedule recommended by IDAI for 2024, IDAI recommends giving PCV vaccine at the age of 2, 4 and 6 months with a booster at the age of 12-15 months.

If not given at the age of 7-12 months, PCV is given 2 times with a minimum interval of 1 month and an increase at the age of 12-15 months with an interval of 2 months from the previous dose.

Then, if it is not given at the age of 1-2 years, PCV is given 2 times with a minimum distance of 2 months.

In addition, if it was not given at the age of 2-5 years, PCV10 will be given 2 times with a distance of 2 months, PCV13 or PCV15 will be given 1 time.

For children older than 5 years who are at high risk and have never received the PCV vaccine, it is recommended to receive 1 dose of PCV13 or PCV15.