An influential panel of health experts has recommended that adult smokers be vaccinated against a major bacterium that causes pneumonia. This marks the first time the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended an immunization specifically for smokers.

The ACIP is a panel of 15 experts that advises government agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine recommendations. The CDC usually adopts the panel’s recommendations, so it is likely that doctors will soon be recommending pneumococcal vaccines for the 31 million American adults – more than one fifth of the adult population – who smoke.

Pneumococcal vaccines protect against several strains of Streptococcus pneumonia bacteria, which cause pneumonia, meningitis and other illnesses.

Currently, pneumococcal vaccines are recommended for young children and people aged 65 and older but not for healthy adults. The panel now recommends that adults aged 19 – 65 who smoke should also be given the vaccine. Studies have shown that smokers are about four times more likely than nonsmokers to suffer pneumococcal disease and the risk rises with the number of cigarettes a person smokes in their lifetime.

Vaccination does not guarantee protection, however. Current pneumococcal vaccines were designed to protect against specific strains of bacteria that were responsible for most cases at the time the vaccines were developed. Unfortunately, other strains have emerged since then to become the main sources of pneumococcal disease. Drug companies are in the process of developing new vaccines that will protect against these new strains.

If you are an adult smoker, ask your doctor if the pneumococcal vaccine may be right for you.

For more information about smoking or pneumonia, join Healia’s Health Community for Smoking or Healia’s Health Community for Pneumonia.

_{Photo: Lance McCord, Flickr, Creative Commons}