Pneumococcal Disease / Pc Vaccine

To quote The Vaccine Book, "Pneumococcus (Pc) is a bacterium that causes a wide range of illnesses, from mild cold symptoms and ear infections to severe pneumonia, blood stream infections, and meningitis. It is transmitted like the common cold. When the germ finds its way ino a person, it usually is kept restricted to the nose, throat, and ears and causes cold symptoms, coughing, or ear pain. Occasionally it moves down into the lungs and causes symptoms of pneumonia (labored breathing, severe cough, and fever). Very rarely the germ invades farther into the body and causes bloodstream infection (symptoms include high fever and lethargy) or meningitis (fever, sever headache, vomiting, stiff neck). No one knows what percentage of the time Pc transforms from a minor illness into a more severe one, but this does happen more commonly in infants, toddlers, and the elderly."

According to The Vaccine Book, It is a common bacteria that causes respiratory infections, however cold and flue viruses are still far more common. It is also the most common cause of infant meningitis.

The CDC estimated that there were about 60,000 cases of severe pneumococcal disease each year before the vaccine began, but I am not sure how accurately they were able to estimate that since it is not a disease that requires that the CDC be notified. Of those 60,000, 17,000 were in kids younger than five years of age. These numbers have seemed to decrease by at least half since the vaccine came into use, but now we are seeing increases in other strains of the Pc germ that are not covered by the vaccine.  In fact, in a new (1995 - 2005) study in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 2007;26:461-467) showed that 96% of the severe cases of Pc disease at Children's Medical Center in Dallas were caused by Pc strains not found in the vaccine. Conversely, serious Pc infections (pneumonia, bloodstream infection, or meningitis) occur mostly in infants (age two and under) and the elderly. Serious cases in healthy children and adults are uncommon.

True researches started working on an updated version of the vaccine and probably have one by now (2013), but to me this seems like a HUGE issue. In my mind, this means that the virus is mutating or evolving and the vaccine is only a good for a relatively short period until the virus adapts. This seems much like the flu vaccine. England has scrapped the Pneumonia Vaccines because they don't work. Specifically, The Committee are talking about the elderly over the age of 65, not infants and say

"JCVI has concluded that the protection the vaccine provides is poor and is not long-lasting in older people. In addition, the programme has had no discernable impact on the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in older people. The committee has advised, therefore, that there is little benefit to continuing the programme and that it should be stopped."

The way I see it is yes this is a common and potentially severe disease. The standard side effects are common 15% of the time, but it also has a much high rate of seizures than other vaccines. There is only a .001875% chance of having a severe reaction to the vaccine. If that was all that was considered it looks like not a bad idea to get the vaccine, but given that the virus tends to adapt and thus the vaccine is no longer effective. To add to that, we plan to breast feed (greatly reduces the chance of a severe case) our baby the first two years which is the highest risk time period. We are also not going to use day care. I don't like Aluminum being in the vaccine. All that put together and I don't see how it makes sense to get this vaccine. I say no to this vaccine (in our case).