Urging for vaccination to protect older people from pneumonia, Geriatric Society of India (GSI) released its revised Indian guidelines for vaccination in older adults, on the eve of World Pneumonia Day falling on November 12.

According to the World Health Organization, two billion people will be aged 60 and older by 2050 and 80 per cent of the elderly population will be living in developing countries like India. India’s aging population is rapidly increasing and so are on the rise respiratory disorders amongst the elderly, experts say.

“Three people die every minute because of pneumococcal disease, which has alarmingly high incidence in elderly population” said O P Sharma, GSI Secretary.  Elderly fall easy prey to pneumonia because of age related lowered immunity. Compared to general population they have higher incidence of co morbid conditions like diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart, chronic bronchitis, kidney diseases, cancers etc, and certain drugs which affect immune system.

Streptococcus pneumonia is also an under appreciated cause of pneumonia occurring in community, occupying hospital beds, intensive care units, nursing homes and long-term care institutions. Critical risk factors are age clubbed with co morbidity, a release said here.

Deaths due to pneumonia occur in spite of best of treatment, thus there by increasing the importance of cost effective vaccination for prevention and reduction in morbidity & mortality, it said.

GSI recommends two vaccines to prevent pneumococcal diseases including pneumonia in people aged 50 and above: a polysaccharide vaccine and a conjugate vaccine. “The conjugate vaccine which has proved successful in providing children with extraordinary protection against pneumococcal disease, is also a new approach to prevent pneumococcal disease including community acquired pneumonia in adults,” the Guidelines said.