Your Child's Immunizations: Pneumococcal Vaccines (PCV, PPSV)
The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) and the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) protect against pneumococcal infections.
The bacteria that cause these infections spread through person-to-person contact. They can lead to serious infections like pneumonia, blood infections, and bacterial meningitis.
PCV13 protects against 13 types of pneumococcal bacteria, which cause the most common pneumococcal (new-muh-KOK-uhl) infections in kids. PPSV23 protects against 23 types. These vaccines prevent infections in children who get them, and help stop the infections from spreading to others.
