Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of severe community-acquired pneumonia in children after introduction of the 10-valent pneumococcal vaccine.

Background: Pneumonia is an important cause of morbimortality in Brazil, despite the extensive vaccination coverage and the socioeconomic improvement in the past years.

Objective: To describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of severe community-acquired pneumonia in children after the introduction of the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10).

Methods: A prospective study included children <5 years old hospitalized for pneumonia between October 2010 and September 2013 in a tertiary hospital.