Pneumococcal vaccines for sickle cell disease.

People with sickle cell disease are particularly susceptible to pneumococcal infection, which may be fatal. Infants (children aged up to 23 months) are at particularly high risk, but conventional polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccines may be ineffective in this age group. New conjugate pneumococcal vaccines are now available, which may help to reduce the incidence of infection in people with sickle cell disease.