How Often Should One Get Vaccinated For Pneumonia?

Posted on Tue, 15 Mar 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 15 Mar 2016 Answered on

Thu, 19 May 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I had the pneumonia vaccine 2years ago.. I heard there is a new one. Should we be revaccinated? Thank you

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
it depends

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

there are two types of pneumococcus vaccines. They are PPSV and PCV-13. PPSV and PCV-13 are not vaccine names, they are vaccine types. Since you're talking about a new one, you've probably done PPSV (pneumovax) in the past. If a couple of years have passed since your last vaccination then you can do (and you should do) the PCV-13 vaccine (prevenar). 1-2 years after PCV-13 you will have to do another (the last one) dose of PPSV (pneumovax). And that's all for pneumococcal vaccination.

Kind Regards!

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar