Effects of a large-scale intervention with influenza and 23-valent pneumococcal vaccines in elderly people: a 1-year follow-up

To assess the effectiveness of influenza and pneumococcal vaccination in reducing hospitalisation and deaths in elderly people, the population aged > or =65 years in Stockholm County, Sweden (n = 259627) were invited to take part in a vaccination campaign with influenza and 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine (PV). A no. of persons (100,242) (vaccinated cohort) were vaccinated with one or both vaccines during the campaign. The incidence of hospital admissions during 1 year after the vaccination campaign, adjusted for sex and age, was significantly lower in the vaccinated than in the unvaccinated cohort for influenza (relative risk RR] 0.68), pneumonia (RR 0.78), and invasive pneumococcal disease (RR 0.46). In the vaccinated cohort, the in-hospital mortality was lower for pneumonia (RR 0.55), COPD (RR 0.53) and cardiac failure (RR 0.72).