Pneumonia Vaccines Save Lives, But Not Enough Older Canadians Are Getting Them
Canada continues to fall short of its targets for vaccinating older adults against pneumonia, even though they are at higher risk of contracting this lung infection — and far more likely to die from it. In the updated version of its 2019 report: As One of Canada’s Top Killers, Why Isn’t Pneumonia Taken More Seriously? the National Institute on Ageing (NIA) finds that, unfortunately, pneumococcal vaccination rates among Canadians aged 65 years and older continue to lag at around 55 per cent — nowhere near the target of 80 per cent set by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
