Pneumonia Vaccinations

Pneumonia Vaccinations

“Pneumococcal vaccination can resolve complications arising from pneumonia”

Pneumonia is a common lung infection caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites. It causes

headaches, fever and cough making it hard for a person to breathe. Most of the time, pneumonia can be

treated at home within two to three weeks but in severe cases, the patient may be hospitalised. Visit an

Apollo Clinic near you to get a check-up done or to get yourself vaccinated against pneumonia.

Pneumonia can be managed at home by following three simple steps like:

Drink lots of fluids

Get lots of rest

Avoid the use of cough medicines

There are also vaccinations available to treat this ailment that is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus

pneumoniae that also causes blood poisoning and meningitis. The pneumococcal infection can affect

people of all ages and getting a pneumococcal vaccination can resolve complications arising from these

infections. Babies and those above the age of 65 must get vaccinated against pneumonia. The vaccine

used on babies is called pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and protects babies against 13 different

types of pneumococcal infections. It is administered in three batches in the following intervals:

Two months old

Four months old

13 months old

For those above the age of 65, pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) is given to protect against

infections. PVV protects people against 23 types of pneumococcal infections.

There are some instances where getting pneumonia vaccination may not be possible or advisable. They

are:

Vaccine allergy - If your child had reacted badly to any vaccination previously, it may not be a

good idea to forcefully get the child vaccinated again without consulting a GP first. But if the

child only had a mild rash or fever, it is alright to get the vaccination done.

Fever - If your child is generally unwell with a high temperature, then it might be a good idea to

postpone the vaccination.

Pregnancy - Though it is believed that getting a pneumonia jab is safe for pregnant women, it

might be safer to wait till the birth of the baby.

There will be a few common side effects like fever, rash at the injection site and even some swelling but

these are temporary and will disappear in a few days.

Apollo hospitals: http://www.apollohospitals.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HospitalsApolloYoutube: http://www.youtube.com/apollohospitalsindiaFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheApolloHospitalsSlideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/Apollo_HospitalsLinkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/company/apollo-hospitalsBlog:Blog: http://www.letstalkhealth.in/