Long-Term Performance of 23-Valent Pneumococcal Vaccine in Patients with Autoimmune Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases

Standard practice is to administer 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) to patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis), but data are lacking on the vaccine's long-term efficacy in these patients and whether vaccination should be repeated after 5 years, as CDC guidelines recommend. Researchers collected data on 130 Israeli patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases who were receiving methotrexate, steroids, or biologic therapies (i.e., anti–tumor necrosis factor inhibitors or interleukin-6 receptor inhibitors).

A total of 88 participants had been vaccinated previously; time since vaccination was <5 years in 66 patients, 5 to 10 years in 19 patients, and >10 ye…