The epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease in British Columbia following implementation of an infant immunization program: increases in herd immunity and replacement disease.

Objectives: In 2003, British Columbia (BC) introduced a universal heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) program for infants, and in 2007 revised the recommended schedule from four doses to three doses. We describe trends in the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in association with these program changes.

Methods: All confirmed cases are reported to the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) using a standardized data collection process; isolates are forwarded to the BCCDC Public Health and Reference Microbiology Laboratory for serotyping and to the National Reference Laboratory for confirmation. Upon implementation of the reduced dose program in 2007, additional epidemiological data, including immunization history, were collected for children < or = 16 years.

Results: Seven years after implementation of the program, a 78% decline in incidence of IPD among children under five has been achieved; this is largely a direct effect of the PCV-7 program. Among those >16 years of age, herd immunity is evident and decreasing trends of PCV-7 serotypes continued even after the dose reduction program was introduced. However, gains in disease reduction were offset by increases in replacement serotypes, particularly among the over-65 age group. This has resulted in no net change in adult IPD rates.

Conclusions: The implementation of the PCV-7 program has changed the epidemiology of IPD in BC through direct effects of the vaccine, herd immunity and serotype replacement. The introduction of a three-dose schedule was not associated with an excess of vaccine failures.