Pneumococcal vaccine for people over 65

Cost: Several hundred yuan. In some regions, it is provided free of charge for seniors.
In plain terms: In a trial involving 84,500 seniors, the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine cut cases of pneumonia caused by strains it targets by roughly 46%, and reduced instances of the most severe invasive infections by 75%. However, it showed no effect on pneumonia cases caused by any other pathogens, so it won’t prevent all types of pneumonia. The absolute confidence interval width is 95.2%.
Benefit: Researchers in the Netherlands randomly assigned 84,500 seniors over 65 to two groups for comparison. They used the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Its effectiveness against pneumonia caused by strains it targets was 45.6%, with a 95% confidence interval of 21.8–62.5. This figure refers to the specific bacterial strains the vaccine can protect against. For the most dangerous form of pneumococcal disease, the effectiveness was 75.0% (95% CI 41.4–90.8). No protective effect was observed against pneumonia cases caused by any other pathogens.
Evidence grade: A
Sources:Bonten MJ, Huijts SM, Bolkenbaas M, et al. (2015). Polysaccharide conjugate vaccine against pneumococcal pneumonia in adults. New England Journal of Medicine, 372(12), 1114-1125. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1408544
Notes: This vaccine only protects against the specific bacterial strains it targets; it does not prevent all types of pneumonia. The 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine commonly used for seniors in China is a different formulation from the 13-valent conjugate vaccine used in this trial, so the effectiveness figures here cannot be directly applied to that vaccine.