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ISSUE NUMBER 166 THE TOWN CRIER APRIL 2017

Why Get A Pneumonia Shot?
by Christine Lizza, RN

All adults over age 65 should get the pneumonia vaccine. Pneumonia is a serious
lung infection that makes it hard to breathe. The vaccine can’t prevent all cases, but it
can lower your chances of catching the disease. And if you’ve had the shot and you
get pneumonia anyway, you will probably have a much milder case.
Why Older Adults?
As you age, your immune system doesn’t work as well as it once did, so older adults
and some people with health problems are more likely to get pneumonia. It’s more common among people
whose immune systems are weak, so they should also get the vaccine. Many diseases can cause your im-
mune system to weaken and less able to fight off bacteria like pneumonia. If you have heart disease, diabe-
tes, emphysema, asthma, or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), you’re more likely to have a
weakened immune system, which makes you more vulnerable. The same goes for people who receive che-
motherapy, people who have had organ transplants, and people with HIV or AIDS.
If you’ve smoked for a long time, you could have damage to the small hairs that line the insides of your
lungs and help filter out germs. When they’re damaged, they aren’t as good at stopping those bad infiltra-
tors. If you drink too much alcohol, you may have a weakened immune system. Your white blood cells
(which fight infection) don’t work as well as they do for people with a healthy immune system. If you were in
the hospital ICU (intensive care unit) and needed help breathing with a ventilator, you’re at risk of getting
pneumonia. The same is true if you’ve just had major surgery or if you’re healing from a serious injury.
When your immune system is weak because of illness or injury or because it’s helping you get better from
surgery, you can’t fight off germs as well as you normally can.
Who Shouldn’t Get It?
Not everybody needs to get a pneumonia vaccine. If you’re a healthy adult between ages 18 and 64, you
can probably skip the vaccine. Also, you shouldn’t get it if you’re allergic to what’s in the vaccine. You
can ask your doctor if you’re not sure.
When to Get the Vaccine.
There’s no such thing as pneumonia season.
If you and your doctor decide that you need to have a pneumonia vaccine, you can get it done at any time
of the year. If it’s flu season, you can even get a pneumonia vaccine at the same time that you get a flu vac-
cine, as long as you receive each shot in a different arm. Pneumonia vaccine is a series of two shots: first,
the PCV13 shot and then the PPSV23 a year or more later. For most people, one of each should be suffi-
cient protection for their entire lives.
What Are the Risks?
You cannot get pneumonia from the vaccine. The shots only contain an extract of the pneumonia bacteria,
not the actual bacteria that cause the illness. But some people have mild side effects from the vaccine, in-
cluding swelling and soreness at the injection site, mild fever, fussiness or irritability, loss of appetite, or
sore muscles. Fewer than 1% of people who get the pneumonia vaccine have these types of side effects,
and allergic reactions are even rarer.
So no excuses; consult your physician and make a plan to be immunized.

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