[Q&A] Pertanyaan tentang vaksin Pneumococcal

Question: Hai Doctor,
anak saya berusia 9 bulan lebih sekarang ni, saya nak tanya tentang vaksin Pneumococcal. Selama saya membawa anak saya ke ppum untuk suntikan, mereka tidak pernah mencadangkan untuk mengambil vaksin Pneumococcal ini. Boleh doctor tolong jelaskan secara terperinci tentang kepentingan vaksin Pneumococcal ini.
Saya mengetahui mengenai vaksin ini pun melalui bunting-bunting yang ada di klinik-klinik sahaja.

Answer: I understand the dilemma of parents regarding immunization. To jab or not to jab? But the real question to ask really is: What are the benefits versus risks?

Additional jabs are not in the government schedule partly because of the cost of vaccines related.

When deciding whether additional vaccine is necessary, I always discuss with parents while looking at important factors like below:

i) Is the child born premature( before 37 weeks pregnancy, premature baby is more susceptible to infection),

ii) Is the child healthy otherwise (children with lung and heart disease have higher risk of infections)

iii) Environmental factor ( children that are sent to crowded nursery at just few months old are exposed to myriads of virus and bacteria from mixing with other sick kids).

iv) Any plans to travel abroad?

Then lets look at the diseases singularly.

1) Influenza is a common virus. It causes high fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat and body aches. In its severe form, it can cause pneumonia (lungs infection), bronchitis (airway infection) and even death.

The current influenza vaccine only covers certain strains of Influenza A and Influenza B.

Side effects influenza vaccine are: (info from CDC website)

– soreness, redness and swelling at injection site

– fever

– body ache

– headache

– itching

– fatigue

*Life threatening allergic reaction is rare.

* Risk of Guillain Barre syndrome is 1-2 cases per million people vaccinated

2) Pneumococcal bacteria (Streptococcus pneumoniae) is a bacteria that causes brain infection, pneumonia (lungs infection), blood stream infection and ear infection.

Complication involves brain damage, empyema (pus in lungs) and even death.

Side effects of pneumococcal vaccine are: (Info from CDC website)

Reported problems associated with PCV13 (Prevenar 13 strains coverage) vary by dose and age, but generally:

About half of children became drowsy after the shot, had a temporary loss of appetite, or had redness or tenderness at injection site
About 1 out of 3 had swelling at injection site
About 1 out of 3 had a mild fever, and about 1 in 20 had a higher fever
Up to about 8 out of 10 became fussy or irritable
Life threatening reaction from vaccine is rare
I hope my explanation helps.Ia tidak didapati di hospital kerajaan dan hanya boleh didapati di klinik atau hospital swasta. Namun begitu, ianya penting dan kami sangat menggalakkan vaksinansi pneumococcal sekiranya puan berkemampuan .