Effectiveness of 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Against Invasive Disease Caused by Serotype 3 in Children:...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Infectious Diseases
• Vaccinology
• Epidemiology

Background:

• The 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) is unique for including serotype 3.
• Previous studies on PCV13 effectiveness against serotype 3 invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in children yielded conflicting results.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and perform a meta-analysis of observational studies.
• To assess the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of PCV13 specifically against serotype 3 IPD in pediatric populations.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive search of PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane library was conducted for studies published before August 14, 2017.
• Included were 4 published studies and 2 conference posters providing PCV13 VE estimates stratified by serotype.
• A random-effects meta-analysis was employed to pool the data.

Main Results:

• The pooled PCV13 VE against serotype 3 IPD was calculated at 63.5% (95% CI, 37.3%-89.7%).
• A sensitivity analysis incorporating conference posters yielded a higher pooled VE estimate of 72.4% (95% CI, 56.7%-88.0%).

Conclusions:

• High-quality pooled data from case-control studies support direct protection.
• PCV13 demonstrates significant effectiveness in preventing serotype 3 IPD in children.