Pneumococcal Vaccines Are Not Just for Kids: What Adults Should Know

Updated September 2026

Pneumococcal vaccination is not only a childhood issue. Pneumococcus can cause pneumonia, bloodstream infection, and meningitis, and risk rises with age and with certain chronic or immune-compromising conditions.

The age recommendation changed

Current CDC guidance recommends pneumococcal vaccination for adults age 50 and older who have not previously received an appropriate pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, as well as adults ages 19 through 49 with certain risk conditions.

Which vaccine?

For adults who have never received a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, current options include PCV15, PCV20, or PCV21. If PCV15 is used, it is followed by PPSV23. People who previously received PCV13, PPSV23, or another pneumococcal vaccine may need a different schedule.

That is why prior vaccine history matters. Pneumococcal recommendations are not simply “one shot at one age.”

Why the recommendations keep changing

Pneumococcus has many serotypes. Vaccines have expanded over time to cover more of the strains responsible for serious disease, and recommendations change as new products and population data become available.

The practical takeaway

If you are 50 or older—or younger with a condition that increases pneumococcal risk—it is worth reviewing your vaccine history rather than assuming this is still only an age-65 vaccine.

— Nora Phillips, DNP, APRN Central Health | Wahiawa, Hawaiʻi

Source

CDC — Recommended Vaccines for Adults: Pneumococcal. Updated February 25, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/pneumococcal/vaccines/adults.html