Pneumococcal vaccination rates in immunocompromised patients in Germany: A retrospective cohort study to assess sequential vaccination rates and changes over time

BACKGROUND: Pneumococcal vaccination is recommended by the German Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) for infants, elderly 60+ years and patients at risk. In 2016, a sequential pneumococcal vaccination schedule (conjugate vaccine followed by polysaccharide vaccine 6–12 months later) supplemented this recommendation for immunocompromised patients ≥2 years of age. Previous research showed low pneumococcal vaccination rates (pnc-VR) in this vulnerable group. Moreover, no evidence is available on adherence to the newer sequential schedule. This study aimed to analyze the development of pnc-VRs in immunocompromised patients and rates of sequential vaccinations according to the STIKO recommendations. METHODS: Using a representative health claims database, we assigned incident immunocompromised patients ≥2 years of age to one of two successive cohorts to observe trends over time: cohort A (first diagnosis of immunocompromised condition between 01/2013 and 12/2014), and cohort B (first diagnosis between 01/ 2015 and 12/2017). Pnc-VR within two years after first diagnosis and cumulative pnc-VR was compared among both cohorts. In cohort B, we assessed sequential pnc-VR within 15 months of the first vaccination. For additional analyses, patients were stratified by age, gender and immunocompromising condition. RESULTS: Cohort A and B comprised 193,521 and 289,279 patients, respectively. Overall pnc-VR increased over time from 4.3% (cohort A; 95%-confidence interval: 4.3%-4.4%) to 6.0% (cohort B; 5.9%-6.1%), with highest pnc-VRs in men ≥60 years (11.3%: 11.1%-11.6%) and HIV patients (15.2%: 13.1%-17.4%). Cumulative pnc-VRs in cohort B were higher in any quarter following diagnosis when compared with cohort A. Overall sequential pnc-VR in cohort B was 4.0% (3.7%-4.3%), with a higher rate observed in patients aged 16–59 (6.8%: 6.0%-7.7%) vs. patients aged ≥60 years (3.1%: 2.8%-3.4%). CONCLUSION: While some improvements were seen over time, pnc-VRs remain very low in immunocompromised patients, as did sequential vaccination rates. Current recommendations to protect immunocompromised patients from pneumococcal infections are not being sufficiently implemented.