REACTOGENICITY AND IMMUNOGENICITY OF A PROTEIN-CONJUGATED PNEUMOCOCCAL OLIGOSACCHARIDE VACCINE IN OLDER ADULTS

Healthy adults greater than or equal to 50 years old were immunized wi th either pentavalent Corynebacterium diphtheriae C7 (beta 197) cross- reactive material (CRM(197)) protein-conjugated pneumococcal vaccine ( CV) containing 10 mu g each of capsular oligosaccharides from serotype s 6B, 14, 18C, 19F, and 23F or with licensed (23-valent, 25 mu g/serot ype) pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PV), Adverse reactions, pred ominantly local in nature, occurred in 20 of 23 CV recipients versus 1 3 of 23 PV recipients (P < .05), Compared with mean postvaccination an tibody concentrations in PV recipients, those induced by CV were not s ignificantly different for serotypes 6B, 14, 18C, and 23F and were low er for 19F (P < .05). Six months later, reimmunization with PV of subj ects who had initially received CV elicited a slight boost in antibody concentrations to levels that were not significantly higher than thos e achieved after the primary vaccination or than those in persons give n a single dose of PV, Pneumococcal vaccines containing protein-conjug ated oligosaccharides may offer no advantage over currently licensed p reparations containing unconjugated polysaccharides for immunization o f healthy older adults.