What is the importance of using Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines in India?
- 1.These vaccines are effective against pneumonia as well as meningitis and sepsis.
- 2.Dependence on antibiotics that are not effective against drug-resistant bacteria can be reduced.
- 3.These vaccines have no side effects and cause no allergic reactions.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) 1 and 2 only
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) protect against the diseases caused by the pneumococcus bacterium, chiefly pneumonia, meningitis and blood infection (sepsis), and fewer infections mean less reliance on antibiotics against resistant strains. No vaccine is free of side effects, so the claim in statement 3 is too absolute.
- ✓ 1. The Health Ministry says PCV protects children against severe pneumococcal disease such as pneumonia and meningitis. Pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumoniae) also causes blood infection (sepsis), and the vaccine greatly reduced this burden where it was introduced.
- ✓ 2. After PCVs were introduced across the world, the share of pneumococci resistant to first-line antibiotics for pneumonia fell. Fewer infections and less resistance mean less dependence on failing antibiotics.
- ✗ 3. WHO's vaccine safety notes list mild reactions, such as swelling, redness, tenderness and fever, and say severe allergic reactions are very rare, not absent.
Remember · PCV prevents pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis and helps check antibiotic resistance, but every vaccine can have mild side effects and, rarely, allergy.
Sources
- PIB, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: Shri J P Nadda launches Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) under Universal Immunization Programme (13 May 2017) ↗ “PCV protects children against severe forms of pneumococcal disease, such as pneumonia and meningitis.”
- Potential impact of introducing the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine into national immunisation programmes: an economic-epidemiological analysis using data from India (BMJ Global Health, PubMed Central) ↗ “Streptococcus pneumoniae was responsible for an estimated 105 000 pneumonia deaths in India in 2010, in addition to causing meningitis and other forms of invasive disease.”
- Antimicrobial resistance in paediatric Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates amid global implementation of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (Lancet Microbe 2021, PubMed Central) ↗ “Implementation of PCVs has reduced the proportion of circulating pneumococci resistant to first-line antibiotic treatments for pneumonia.”
- WHO Global Vaccine Safety, Information sheet on pneumococcal vaccine adverse events ↗ “Life-threatening allergic reactions from vaccines are very rare. If they do occur, it would be within a few minutes to a few hours after vaccination”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·