[Safety of and untoward reactions to 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine: a prospective study]

The study objective was to demonstrate the safety of Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine in 430 geriatric patients at high risk of infection. The reactions after inoculation were classified as follows: (1) Grade 1: slight pain at the site of injection; mild systemic fatigue to improve within 3 days. (2) Grade 2: symptoms of swelling, erythema, or pain lasting for more than 3 days; inability to move upper limb due to pain; systemic symptoms such as a temperature above 38 degrees centigrade. (3) Grade 3: reactions requiring immediate medical therapy. Seventy patients (16.3%) showed inoculation reactions, and 360 (83.7%) were asymptomatic. Of the symptomatic reactions, 50 (11.6%) were grade 1.17 (4.0%) grade 2, and 3 (0.7%) grade 3. About 5% of the patients with grade 1 and 2 reactions needed special management. One chronic heart failure patient complained of severe heart failure symptoms after inoculation.