Nihon rinsho. Japanese journal of clinical medicine
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Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of systemic infection and respiratory tract infection. All age groups may be affected, but the highest rates of pneumococcal disease occur among young children and elderly individuals. Now, two pneumococcal vaccines are available in Japan. ⋯ The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) is the vaccine to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease and respiratory tract infection among young children. Unfortunately, so far, both of the vaccines have used as a voluntary vaccine in Japan. The widely use of PPV23 and PCV7 is expected for the prevention of pneumococcal disease in Japanese people.
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Two vaccination systems have been employed in Japan, the routine vaccination and the voluntary vaccination. The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in Japan is no-fault system. Claims after the routine vaccination are demanded to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare through local governments, and compensation is more expenses. Meanwhile, claims after the voluntary vaccination are demanded to the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device Agency directly, and compensation is less compared with the routine vaccination.
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It is really expected to develop vaccines which are based on newly developed technologies, since we are facing to various emerging infectious diseases such as new influenza epidemic. Various vaccines for infants or children have been developed to use, but vaccines for adolescent such as human papilloma vaccine, and those for adults such as zoster vaccine have been recently developed in USA and Europe. Vaccines based on new concept such as recombinant vaccine, DNA vaccine, polypeptide vaccine and mucosal vaccine will be on market in near future. Furthermore, development of new adjuvants inducing high immunity but having few side-reaction is urgently needed.