The pneumococcal vaccine. Immunization at a crossroad.

A new polyvalent pneumococcal vaccine (Pneumovax) was released in February 1978. In an effort to chronicle the dissemination of the vaccine to high-risk patients, we prospectively followed up a single clinic population and conducted a telephone survey of three neighborhood health centers, two private practices, and a university hematology clinic. Three months after notification of the vaccine arrival, physicians in the prospectively chronicled clinic had immunized six of 12 patients with sickle cell disease, five of 80 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, three of 225 patients with diabetes, and three of 45 patients older than 80 years. Immunization policy in the other clinics surveyed varied greatly. As an attempt to curb low-prevalence, high-severity illness in a small target population, the pneumococcal vaccine presents a new set of problems in the systematic implementation of an immunization.