Impact of national pneumococcal vaccination program on invasive pneumococcal diseases in South Korea

Following the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs), the rate of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) declined, however, IPDs replaced by serotypes that are not included in the vaccine have emerged. We describe the epidemiology of IPD in South Korea over a 4.5-year period, encompassing the impact following introduction of PCV10/13 and PPSV23 into the public immunization program, and assess serotype dynamics in pediatric and adult population. This was a nationwide, retrospective review of surveillance of all IPD cases in Korea between September 2014 to December 2019. We analyzed VT13 (serotypes included in 13-valent conjugate vaccine) and NVT (nonvaccine type) cases by age, sex, IPD type, vaccination status, and deaths. A total of 893 cases with serotype data were included; 306 (34%) VT13 cases and 587 (66%) NVT cases. Serotype 3 (n = 155) was the most common VT13 serotype, followed by serotypes 19A (n = 70) and 14 (n = 28). Among the NVTs, serotype 10A (n = 74) was the most common serotype, followed by serotypes 23A (n = 60) and 34 (n = 58). Persons who had PCV13 vaccination were at lower risk (aOR = 0.11, 95% CI 0.02–0.73, P = 0.022) of death compared to unvaccinated persons. Introduction of PCV10/13 and PPSV23 vaccination program has had different impacts on the serotype-specific IPD across age groups. The most common serotypes included serotypes 3 and 19A (VT13), and 10A, 23A, and 34 (NVT). Our findings suggest continued monitoring in the midst of new vaccine development, and a need to develop novel strategies to mitigate the IPDs from emerging pneumococcal serotypes.