Member News
A parliamentary roundtable has celebrated the successes of a groundbreaking vaccine designed to combat a leading cause of illness in infants and adults.
Parliamentarians and representatives from patient groups and think-tanks gathered on Tuesday in the House of Commons to discuss technological advances in the vaccination process for pneumococcal disease.
Pneumococcal disease is the world's number one vaccine-preventable cause of death amongst under-5s.
The roundtable, hosted by Dods on behalf of Pfizer, the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company, heard from a range of speakers on how the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) had ensured protection for infants under two, one of the groups most vulnerable to the disease.
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, produced by Pfizer, was introduced on to the childhood immunisation programme five years ago.
Prior to its introduction it was estimated that at least 50 children died every year from serious pneumococcal disease. It now helps to reduce preventable illness, disability or death.
The well-attended session, entitled 'All grown up – the impact of vaccination on pneumococcal disease in the UK', heard from Dr Peter English of the Health Protection Agency, Pfizer's Dr Paul Balmer and Professor Mark Dryson of the Clinical Immunology Service.
The roundtable served as a discussion of the UK pneumococcal vaccination programme, and touched on a number of key topics including improving understanding of pneumococcal disease, gaining recognition for the advances in research over the last five years or so, and developing an awareness of how vaccines work and how this technology is advancing.
Attendees at the session included Ian Liddell Grainger MP, chair of the pharmaceutical industry APPG, and co-chairs of the pneumonia APPG, Jim Dobbin MP and Lord Avebury.
Speaking following the roundtable, Lord Avebury praised the work of Pfizer, but stated that more needed to be done to ensure effective vaccines were in place for older people.
He said: "The session was incredibly useful and I must praise the work of Pfizer in developing this vaccine. This is an incredibly serious issue and we are all eager to eliminate infant mortality in Britain that arises from pneumococcal disease.
"As part of the roundtable we found out how vaccinations are being used on older people. It is vital to remember that organisms are clever and develop immunity, so there is always more work to do."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd