Question: I recently turned 65 and went to my family doctor for a checkup. She said I should get a vaccination to protect me from pneumonia. I consider myself to be a relatively fit senior. Why would I need a pneumonia shot?
Answer: Although you may feel and look perfectly fit, your immune system becomes less efficient as you grow older. That means you become increasingly susceptible to infection from streptococcus pneumoniae, bacteria that normally live in your body.
This type of bacteria can exist in the nose and throat—without causing any ill effects most of the time. But among susceptible individuals, the germs can invade the lower parts of the lung, resulting in pneumonia and causing difficulty breathing. The illness often leads to hospitalization and may be deadly.
The infection, which causes most bacterial pneumonia cases, is preventable with a vaccination. The Public Health Agency of Canada urges everyone over 65 to get a pneumonia shot and it has set a national target of inoculating 80 percent of people within this age group.
It also recommends that young children get a similar vaccine because their immature immune systems make them vulnerable to catching the lung infection.
“But the rate of vaccination against pneumonia in older Canadians is only about 42 percent, compared to over 80 percent in children,” says Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Sinai Health System and University Health Network in Toronto.
“It’s deeply ingrained in us to think that children need vaccinations. However, vaccines are actually required across the course of our lifetime and we have done a terrible job as a society getting across this message.”
To make matters worse, “we don’t take the threat of pneumonia as seriously as we should,” adds Sinha, who co-authored a report about pneumonia in older Canadians recently published by the National Institute on Ageing at Ryerson University.
And yet it’s one of the major causes of hospitalizations and accounted for 135,000 visits to Canadian emergency departments last year. Pneumonia ends up killing more than 6,000 Canadians a year—and 88 percent of these deaths are among seniors.
“Pneumonia can be nasty—it makes you feel terrible,” says Sinha. Some strains of the bacteria are incredibly invasive. The germs can spread beyond the lungs into the bloodstream and nervous system. In certain cases, it leads to meningitis, an inflammation of the lining around the brain.
Pneumonia not only ravages the body—it can undermine mental health, too.
A lot of elderly pneumonia patients become confused and develop a condition known as delirium which can have long-lasting consequences, says Dr. Jerome Leis, medical director for infection prevention and control at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
And for those who are hospitalized, they may find themselves at an elevated risk of other complications. For instance, they might lose their mobility, pick up other infections, or an existing health condition may get worse.
“A common scenario is that pneumonia precipitates another major health problem,” notes Leis, who is also an assistant professor at the University of Toronto.
“The level of physical and cognitive functioning of a senior can change dramatically. They can go from living independently to, within weeks, requiring assistance to live,” he explains. Some may be forced to move into a nursing home.
“Pneumonia can be a life-changing event for many people.”
It has long been recognized by the medical community that the risk of pneumonia is even higher among people who develop influenza, commonly known as the flu.
Influenza can damage the respiratory system and lead to a build-up of mucus in the airways. When this happens, there’s a heightened chance that bacteria will move from the nose and upper throat into the lower parts of the lung, where the germs can cause full-blown pneumonia.
That’s one reason why older adults are encouraged to get an annual flu shot in addition to the pneumonia vaccine. And while a new flu shot is required every year to deal with the ever-morphing influenza virus, most healthy adults normally need just one pneumonia vaccination.
In order to encourage greater uptake of the pneumonia vaccine, all the provinces and territories cover the cost of the shot for seniors and young children.
“There is a huge underestimation of the seriousness of pneumonia—especially for older adults—and that’s something that absolutely needs to change,” says Sinha.
So, when your family doctor recommends that you get a pneumonia inoculation, it’s advice that’s worth heeding.
Sunnybrook’s Patient Navigation Advisor provides advice and answers questions from patients and their families. This article was originally published on Sunnybrook’s Your Health Matters, and it is reprinted on Healthy Debate with permission. Follow Paul on Twitter @epaultaylor.
If you have a question about your doctor, hospital or how to navigate the health care system, email AskPaul@Sunnybrook.ca
The comments section is closed.
Still waiting for reply to my post of 10 days ago. Where are you Paul Taylor?
I have read your comment about getting the pneumonia vaccine with interest. First there are two vaccines. Which do you
recommend that I get. You said if one is a senior citizen but I phoned my doctor’s office and she said it was $125.00.?? I am 80 years old with a heart condition.
What is the NNV for this vaccine (number needed to vaccinate to prevent one case of pneumonia)?
Side effects of the vaccine?
These questions should be answered in any article pushing people to get a vaccine or take a drug
My 70 yr old hubby received the vaccine in the fall and became ill with pneumonia, in the spring. Should he consider getting another Pneumonia vaccine in the future?
Hello Janis:
Your husband should talk to his family doctor about whether he needs a different type of vaccine.
There are two main types of pneumonia vaccines.
One of them contains certain components that are designed to generate a response in people with compromised immune systems and young children with still developing immune systems.
Maybe your husband needs this type of shot. But his family doctor should be able to tell him what’s required for the best possible protection.
Paul Taylor