This research was funded by the European Union Framework 6 Programme under a grant to DJC within a workpackage of the EUROMALVAC-2 research consortium co-ordinated by Prof. David Arnot, and by The Wellcome Trust. We are grateful to Lindsay

Stewart for help with parasite culture and slide preparation for immunofluorescence. “
“In 2009 in the United States, invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is estimated to be responsible for over 44,000 cases of pneumonia, leading to over 5000 deaths [1]. Severe pneumococcal disease not only causes pneumonia but also can lead to meningitis and septicemia [2] and [3]. Risk of pneumonia is especially high for two groups: (a) persons over age 65 years and (b) persons ages 2–64 years with chronic conditions [3]. Among these at-risk patients, the incidence of IPD is 40 per LGK-974 ic50 100,000 with a mortality rate of about 1 in 20 [4]. Furthermore, the annual direct and indirect costs of IPD are estimated at $3.7 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively [5]. Research has demonstrated that pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV) is effective in preventing IPD [2], [6], [7] and [8],

has a low rate of adverse events [9], and is cost-effective [10], [11] and [12]. With increased rates of antibiotic microbial resistance, improving PPSV coverage is the most selleckchem effective strategy to prevent pneumonia-related morbidity and mortality [13]. However, first vaccination rates are suboptimal. The Healthy People 2020 initiative has set two goals for PPSV coverage in the United States based on age and presence of chronic conditions [14]. For persons older than age 65 years, the target coverage rate is 90%, from a baseline of 60% in 2008 [14]. For at-risk persons aged 2–65 years, the target rate is 60%, from the 2008 baseline of 17% [14]. Vaccination or immunization coverage is the percentage of persons in a population who have received the recommended scheduled dose of vaccine [15]. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) reported that barriers for improving

pneumococcal immunization were missed opportunities for vaccination (e.g., physician not suggesting PPSV during a routine office visit), limited settings for vaccine administration, fear of adverse events, and lack of awareness of benefits of PPSV [16]. A study by Klabunde et al. found that 47% of patients who were at risk for pneumococcal disease but had not received a PPSV cited, “the belief that the service was not needed or not knowing that it was needed” as the primary reason for not being vaccinated [17]. During the past several years, the Boards of Pharmacy in most states have changed their regulations to allow pharmacists to administer both influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations [18]. Subsequently, the provision of PPSV by pharmacies has increased the number of settings for vaccine administration [18] and [19].