Rates of pneumococcal meningitis fell after introduction of vaccine, data indicate.

Since the pneumococcal vaccine for children was introduced. Pneumococcal infections for all age groups, not just children have fallen. Rates of pneumococcal meningitis dropped 64 percent in children under age two from 1998-1999 to 2004-2005. With fewer contagious babies to spread germs, fewer older kids and adults are getting sick, according to study co-author Nancy Bennett, M.D., of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in the Jan. 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.