Reactogenicity trends by age to influenza and pneumococcal vaccines

Authors replicate about an experience of vaccination that involved 320 individuals aged 65 and older attending one hospital geriatric unit, with the results of a study performed on 29,086 persons aged 65 and older (mean age 74.6, range 65–102) during the fall of 1999 in association with the Sicilian Region Public Health Authorities. The conclude that agree the simultaneous administration of Influenza Vaccine (IV) and Pneumococcal Vaccine (PV) is safe and well tolerated in older people. The lower incidence of adverse effects observed in their investigation could be related to the older mean age of the subjects examined than in other studies or to the shorter follow‐up period. What does not convince the authors, and is contradictory to their conclusion is the observation by Perucchini et al. that the incidence of adverse effects was higher in those receiving IV only than in those receiving IV+PV; in their view only the limited size of their sample could explain this.