Vaccine Could Prevent Deaths, Save Costs in Flu Pandemic
A new predictive model shows that vaccinating infants with 7 valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) — the current recommendation — not only saves lives and money during a normal flu season by preventing related bacterial infections; it also would prevent more than 357,000 deaths during an influenza pandemic, while saving $7 billion in costs. Bacterial infections, particularly pneumococcal disease, can follow a viral illness such as flu and cause secondary infections that worsen flu symptoms and increase influenza-related risk. Bacterial infections may have been the cause of nearly half of the deaths of young soldiers during the 1918 flu pandemic.
