The CDC has recommended that children vaccinated over the last 11 years against a pneumonia-causing bacteria get a new, more powerful version.  But fewer than half those eligible have done so.

Cincinnati pediatrician Dr. Paul Korn is baffled why so many kids don't have the supplemental Prevnar 13--which protects against nearly double the number of pneumonia strains as its predecessor, Prevnar.  Infection by one of the bacterium could lead to invasive pneumococcal disease, or IPD.

"In children, that usually manifests as serious infections such as meningitis, which is inflammation of the tissues around the brain and spinal cord, and bacteremia, or bacteria in the bloodstream.  These can have dire consequences for young kids," Korn tells WSB. 

Some of the long-term complications of invasive pneumococcal disease causing meningitis can include seizures or deafness, according to the CDC.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that before the vaccine was available, pneumococcus caused 6,100 deaths each year and 63,000 infections.  The infection rate was slashed by 75% with the vaccine. 


"Having seen these diseases, having seen kids devastated--or worse--from some of these preventable diseases, I feel very strongly that vaccinating our children is one of the most important things we can do to ensure the long-term health of our kids," Korn says.

He says the winter season is a particularly sensitive time to think about kids and vaccines--because colder weather means a lot more time spent indoors, where it's even easier to catch a bug.

In November, an FDA panel ruled that Prevnar 13 is safe and effective for adults over 50, too.  Final approval of the vaccine for adults, which could come in early January after current trials wrap up, could be a huge benefit for patients and for Pfizer, the drug's maker.  The market could expand for use in hospitals, where complications after some surgeries like open-heart proecedures commonly leave patients vulnerable to pneumonia, which can be deadly.