Wyeth Applauds Six Countries Across Europe, and the Middle East, That Recently Announced the Inclusion of the 7-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV7) in Their Immunization...( MAIDENHEAD England July 8 /- -...),Health

MAIDENHEAD, England, July 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

- PREVENAR Vaccine to Help Protect Children Against the Leading Vaccine-Preventable Cause of Death in Young Children

Wyeth applauds the countries of Cyprus, Hungary, the Kingdom of Bahrain, Republic of Ireland, Slovak Republic and Sweden for announcing their decisions to routinely immunize infants and young children against pneumococcal disease by adding PREVENAR(TM) PCV7 (Pneumococcal Saccharide Conjugated Vaccine, Adsorbed) to their national immunization programs(1). This announcement makes it 24 countries across the world that have now included Prevenar in their immunizations schedules(1).

"We share these countries' commitment to protecting children from the potentially devastating effects of pneumococcal disease and applaud the swift action they have taken in addressing this urgent and pressing health issue," says Bernard Fritzell, Vice President, International Scientific & Clinical Affairs, Wyeth Vaccines Research, in Paris, France. "Wyeth is dedicated to the wellbeing of children and to working with other governments and agencies to further expand the access to Prevenar. This includes accelerating the introduction of the vaccine in those countries that have announced their decision to incorporate Prevenar in their National Immunisation Programmes but have yet to introduce the vaccine as part of their immunization schedule."

This is important news as pneumococcal disease results in 1.6 million deaths per year worldwide, of which up to 1 million deaths are in children younger than five years of age(2). Pneumococcal disease is the leading vaccine-preventable cause of death in children younger than five years of age worldwide(3).

"Specifically, since the introduction of PCV7, into Germany's paediatric immunization schedule in 2006, there has been a 50 percent reduction in vaccine-type invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in children younger than 2 years old compared with
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