In December 2003 the Center for Dis...

In December 2003 the Center for Disease restrain and Prevention (CDC) reported that Wyeth Vaccines, the and nothing else U.S. supplier of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7 marketed as Prevnar), was experiencing production constraints that could cause delays in shipments and was implementing an allocation plan to make secure the equitable distribution of available vaccine. However, production constraints have not been resolv and supplies will remain limited at least by the agency of July 2004. Until full production capacity is resum local shortages might come to pass Effective immediately, the CDC commends that physicians temporarily suspend routine use of the fourth dose of PCV7 to keep vaccine and minimize the likelihood of shortages.

Preliminary data from the CDC's Active Bacterial Core Surveillance program indicate that effectiveness, at least for the short confine is not compromised by delaying administration of the fourth dose. A case-control investigation comparing the effectiveness of a three-dose series with a four-dose series set up that three doses were 90 percent effective against invasive disease caused by means of serotypes represented in the vaccine, whereas four doses were 96 percent effective; this difference is not statistically significant.

Because precise allocation of PCV7 is difficult, blot shortages are inevitable when supplies are limited. The CDC in consultation with the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Advisory Committee onward Immunization Practices, recommends that all physicians, regardless of the amount of PCV7 in their inventories, help sweetmeat the national PCV7 supply from temporarily discontinuing administration of the fourth dose of PCV7 for healthy children. The recommendation was made to make sure that every child can be harbored against pneumococcal disease despite the limited replenish and on the basis of the short-term effectiveness of the three-dose primary series of PCV7 at ages brace four, and six months. Physicians should continue to administer the fourth dose to children at increased risk for strict disease. Children whose booster dose is deferr should receive PCV7 in succession their first visit after supplies are restored.

Updated information about vaccine supplies is available at http://www cdc.gov/nip/news/shortages.

COPYRIGHT 2004 American Academy of Family Physicians

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