From 1 September 2025, Prevenar 20 will replace Prevenar 13 and Pneumovax 23 on the childhood and adolescent National Immunisation Program (NIP) schedule.
Routine doses are scheduled at 6 weeks, 4 months and 12 months of age, with an additional dose given for higher risk children at 6 months of age or at diagnosis of the at-risk condition. There is no need to recall a person for ‘catch-up’ if they have already completed their full course of pneumococcal vaccination.
Prevenar 20 is a conjugated vaccine that protects against the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae. In addition to the protection against the 13 serotypes covered in Prevenar 13, Prevenar 20 offers protection against serotypes 8, 10A, 11A, 12F, 15B, 22F, 33F.
There are no changes to the adult schedule at this time.
Read more on the program changes via the NIP Fact sheet
Read more about pneumococcal at MVEC: Pneumococcal
For further information and the opportunity to ask questions, please save the date for MVEC’s upcoming webinar CVU mini: Pneumococcal update. (Recording now available exclusively for Education Portal members.)