Safety of influenza vaccine and 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine immunized alone or in combination in the elderly

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the safety of influenza vaccine and 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23) immunized alone or in combination in elderly people and to raise the awareness of vaccine safety among the elderly. Methods From October 2014 to September 2015, 454 elderly people who were over 60 years old and immunized with influenza vaccine and PPV23 alone or in combination were recruited in this study and divided into five groups. Local and systemic reactions occurred within one month after vaccination were recorded. Results (1) Incidences of adverse reactions among all subjects and people vaccinated with influenza vaccine alone, domestic PPV23 alone, imported PPV23 alone, domestic PPV23 combined with influenza vaccine and imported PPV23 combined with influenza vaccine were 10.13%, 5.35%, 11.63 %, 9.52%, 17.24% and 12.63%, respectively. Local reaction, injection site pain and mild reaction were the common reactions to vaccination. All reactions occurred within seven days and most of them occurred within 30 minutes to one day after vaccination (82.61%). All subjects recovered within seven days and most of them recovered within one day (84.78%). (2) Compared with the people immunized with domestic or imported PPV23 or influenza vaccine alone, those immunized in combination had higher incidences of reactions to vaccination. Among the three single vaccination groups, domestic PPV23 group had the highest incidence of reactions, followed by imported PPV23 and influenza vaccine groups, but no significant difference was found among them (P>0.05). The incidence of responses to influenza vaccine combined with domestic PPV23 was higher than that to influenza vaccine combined with imported PPV23, but no significant difference was found between them (P>0.05). (3) In each group, women, people aged ≥70 years or with chronic diseases had a higher incidence of responses to vaccination than men, people aged 60 to 69 years or without chronic diseases, respectively (P>0.05). Conclusion Immunization with influenza vaccine and PPV23 alone or in combination is safe and tolerable in elderly people regardless of gender, age, or whether they are suffering from chronic diseases or not. Both domestic and imported PPV23 have the feature of good safety. Key words: The elderly; Influenza vaccine; 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine; Combined vaccination; Vaccination reaction