Professor Liecke Sanders (The Netherlands) explains the ongoing dabate generated in her Country by the CAPITA study. Community-Acquired Pneumonia Immunization Trial in Adults (CAPITA), is a trial conducted in The Netherlands, which aimed at testing whether or not to vaccinate against MenW. Contrary to what happens with MenB or C, which appears mainly in children and adolescents, MenW regards older people and its consequences can be devastating. The only safe way to prevent it up till now is to vaccinate.
In the Netherlands no pneumococcal vaccine is recommended for routine use in older adults but, since the disease is quickly coming up and will likely spread to younger children, the debate is getting more and more intense: should adolescents be vaccinate to prevent the spread or, since the cases are still very rare, is it better to wait to have more cases?