Pneumococcal disease is a serious disease that causes much sickness and death.
In fact, pneumococcal disease kills more people in the United States each year than all other vaccine-preventable diseases combined. Anyone can get pneumococcal disease. However, some people are at greater risk from the disease. These include people 65 and older, the very young, and people with special health problems such as alcoholism, heart or lung disease, kidney failure, HIV infection, or certain types of cancer. About 1 out of every 20 people who get pneumococcal pneumonia dies from it, as do about 2 people out of 10 who get bacteremia and 3 people out of 10 who get meningitis.