Improving Pneumococcal Vaccination Rates in Rheumatology Clinics

Abstract

Rheumatology patients on immunosuppression are at increased risk of invasive pneumococcal disease. There is a multitude of literature highlighting the risk of pneumococcal infection, hospitalization, and even death in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), in whom incidence of invasive pneumococcal infection is 13 times higher than the general population. 1,2,3,4