Background: The 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) has been demonstrated to be immunogenic and safe for administration to infants and children aged <5 years. PCV13 recently was approved for children and adolescents aged up to 17 years as the vaccine may be of benefit to some in this older age group.Methods: In this open-label study, healthy children aged 5 to <10 years (ie, the younger age group) previously vaccinated (1 dose) with 7-valent PCV (PCV7) and pneumococcal vaccine-naive children aged 10 to <18 years (ie, the older age group) received 1 dose of PCV13. For the younger group, antipneumococcal immunoglobulin (Ig) G geometric mean concentrations 1 month postvaccination were compared with posttoddler dose (PCV13 or PCV7) levels from a historical control study. Opsonophagocytic activity geometric mean titers 1 month postvaccination for the older group were compared with the younger age group. Safety data were collected.Results: Five hundred and ninety-eight children were enrolled, 299 in each age group. For PCV7 serotypes, IgG geometric mean concentrations in the younger group were 8.23-53.56 g/mL, 2.5-fold greater than historical posttoddler dose values. For the 6 additional serotypes, IgG geometric mean concentrations in the younger group were 2.38-21.51 g/mL, 1.2-fold greater than historical posttoddler dose values. Opsonophagocytic activity geometric mean titers were similar in the older and younger age groups, except for serotype 3 which was lower in the older group. Safety was comparable in both groups.Conclusions: PCV13 was immunogenic and safe when administered to older children and adolescents, regardless of prior PCV7 vaccination.

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among adults 50 years of age and older in the United States. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines are efficacious against pneumococcal disease in children and may also offer advantages in adults.Methods: We performed a randomized, modified double-blind trial that compared a single dose of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) with 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) in 831 pneumococcal vaccine naive adults 60-64 years of age. An additional group of 403 adults 50-59 years of age received open-label PCV13. Anti-pneumococcal opsonophagocytic activity (OPA) titers were measured at baseline, and at 1 month and 1 year after vaccination.Results: In the randomized trial, the month 1 post-vaccination OPA geometric mean titers in the PCV13 group were statistically significantly higher than in the PPSV23 group for 8 of the 12 serotypes common to both vaccines and for serotype 6A, a serotype unique to PCV13, and were comparable for the other 4 common serotypes. The immune response to PCV13 was generally greater in adults 50-59 years of age compared to adults 60-64 years of age. OPA titers declined from 1 month to 1 year after PCV13 administration but remained higher than pre-vaccination baseline titers.Conclusions: PCV13 induces a greater functional immune response than PPSV23 for the majority of serotypes covered by PCV13, suggesting that PCV13 could offer immunological advantages over PPSV23 for prevention of vaccine-type pneumococcal infection. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was compared to PCV7 in infants administered 4 doses. For the 7 common serotypes, PCV13- and PCV7-elicited responses showed comparable percent responders achieving 0.35 μg/mL IgG threshold (exception 6B, 77.5% versus 87.1%, respectively) and OPA titers of 1:8; IgGs were lower than PCV7 but functional responses were generally comparable. For the 6 additional serotypes, PCV13-elicited IgG and functional OPA responses were notably greater than PCV7. The toddler dose boosted immune responses. Vaccines were comparable with regard to safety. PCV13 should be as effective as PCV7 in preventing pneumococcal disease caused by the common serotypes and may provide protection against the additional serotypes.

Background: A 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) has been licensed in >100 countries to broaden coverage against pneumococcal disease. We assessed whether PCV13 interferes with immune responses to concomitantly administered routine pediatric vaccines.Methods: Healthy US infants were randomly assigned in 2 studies to receive PCV13 or 7-valent PCV (PCV7) at age 2, 4 and 6 months concomitantly with diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, inactivated polio virus, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b, and at age 12-15 months with measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and hepatitus A. Antibodies to pertussis antigens, diphtheria, tetanus toxoid, poliovirus types 1-3, Haemophilus influenzae type b polyribosylribitol phosphate capsular polysaccharide and polyribosylribitol phosphate capsular polysaccharide were measured 1 month after the infant series; measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and polyribosylribitol phosphate capsular polysaccharide were determined 1 month after the toddler dose. Both the percentages of responders (subjects reaching a prespecified antibody concentration) and immunoglobulin G antibody geometric mean concentrations/titers were calculated for each concomitant vaccine antigen.Results: Not all assays were performed on all subjects. Data were available from 153 to 239 infants and 163-230 toddlers in the PCV13 group and 173-240 infants and 167-214 toddlers in the PCV7 group. One month after both infant series and the toddler dose, noninferiority criteria were met for all antigens with respect to percentage of responders in both PCV7 and PCV13 groups. Immunoglobulin G antibody geometric mean concentration/titer ratios (PCV13/PCV7) were 0.91-1.33 and 0.83-1.03 at 1 month after the infant series and toddler dose, respectively, and met predetermined noninferiority criteria.Conclusions: Immune responses to routine pediatric vaccines concomitantly administered with PCV13 were noninferior to responses achieved when administered with PCV7.