Kristen Steward from Plainsboro, N.J., is one of the few parents knew about the vaccine and took her children for a snot. She was very impressed about the fact that her children wore not going to suffer of ear infections any more, because she always had to miss from work to take care of them, and they were always suffering when getting such an infection.

There exist 90 different types of Pneumococci and 7 of them are known to affect most frequent the children. The Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is designed to fight the 7 types of pneumoccocus, by helping the body to produce the antibodies needed in stopping this bacterium.

The vaccine has been specially created for children, because they are very susceptible to the bacterium and can easily get infected. There are three shots to be made, at 2, 4, and 6 months of age, and a booster dose taken at 15 months.

Dr. C. Grijalva assistant professor of preventive medicine for Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., studied the impact of this vaccine among children and the conclusions were that the number of ear infections in young children decreased since the Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine appeared.

This vaccine practically saves the patient from using antibiotics, and the parents from skipping work.

The fact that the antibiotics will not be used in such a large number is benefic for everybody, because it will slow the process of antibiotic resistance among Pneumococci.

It seems that the Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is effective on Streptococcus Pneumoniae too, preventing infections caused by it, like pneumonia, which is a dangerous disease especially in children and people who have a weakened immune system.

Dr. Michael Pichichero, professor of pediatrics, medicine and microbiology/immunology at the University of Rochester, said that lately there were registered an increased number of ear infections caused by Haemophilus influenzae. This fact determines the doctors to reconsider the common prescribed antibiotic for ear because those generally used are not useful against Haemophilus influenzae.

Doctors do not know which the cause of every ear infection is and to find out they should perform a ear tap which can be painful and complicated. So, they prescribe an antibiotic for the most likely cause of the infection, but that antibiotic could be a wrong one. Lately, cephalosporins have proved to be effective in most types of ear infections.

This Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is definitely important to be taken, because it can absolve your children from all the suffering and pain they are exposed to when having an ear infection, pneumonia or meningitis, which are dangerous diseases for the babies.