Vaccine reduces tots’ ear infections
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Widespread use of a pneumococcal vaccine has reduced the incidence of infections and the need to insert pressure-relief tubes in the ears of young children by as much as a quarter, researchers reported in the April issue of Pediatrics.
The team studied 27,000 children in New York and 150,000 in Tennessee for the first two years of life. They found that the number of ear infections declined by 16% in Tennessee and by 25% in New York. The vaccine was licensed by the FDA in 2000.
